Moving on
by djinni14
Summary: What if Kate Beckett fought back a little harder after her Captain Roy Montgomery allows Richard Castle to join her team. He had proven he was a childish jackass in an adult body and she wanted nothing to do with him. So Richard Castle had to go. This is not a Caskett story. Rick is not a major player in this story. If you are a Kate Beckett hater, this is the wrong story for you.
1. Chapter 1

**Moving On**

_Chapter 1_

Kate had a body. While she hated seeing dead bodies, it was her job to catch who did it. This time she had a naked woman covered in rose petals with sunflowers over her eyes.

Lanie walked in. "At least he gave her flowers, who says romance is dead?"

"I do, every Saturday night," Kate whispered to her.

"Lipstick wouldn't hurt. …Just saying." Lanie saw Kate giving her the evil eye.

"So what did he give her besides roses?" Kate asked.

"Two shots to the chest. Small caliber." Lanie uncovered the gun shot wounds.

Kate circled the body. "Does this look familiar to anyone?" She could swear she'd seen this before. She just couldn't place it for the moment. It would come to her. "I've seen this before." She knew it and it was starting to come to her.

"You've seen this before?" Espo couldn't remember anything like this in their history together.

Kate gave them a clue and saw two blank faces looking at her. "Naked body covered by rose petals, sunflowers over the eyes. Don't you guys read?" She had it and remembered everything about it now.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] **

"Mr. Castle?" Kate walked up to him after finding out where he was tonight.

He turned and pulled out a pen. "Where would you like it?"

"Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD. We need to ask you a few questions about a murder that took place earlier tonight." She was not impressed by him. All she'd read about him in the paper was probably true just based on these few seconds.

Then she watched a young woman move in behind him and plucked the Sharpie out of his hand. "That's new."

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] **

Kate stepped into the interview room. "Mr. Castle. You've got quite the rap sheet for a best selling author. Disorderly conduct, resisting arrest."

"Boys will be boys," Castle quipped. It only helped Kate confirm she was right about him as were the tabloids and papers.

She kept reading. "Says here you stole a police horse."

"Borrowed," Castle corrected her.

"And you were nude at the time," Kate added.

"It was spring," Castle said.

"Charges were dropped." Kate slammed her folder down onto the table.

"What can I say, the mayor is a fan. But if it will make you feel better I will be happy to let you spank me," Castle offered and smiled wide.

Kate was done with him and didn't need to ask him questions. "We're done here. You're under arrest as a potential murder suspect. Perhaps you can find someone to spank you for that." Kate opened the door and left him behind.

She joined Espo and Ryan in the observation room. "It's likely he didn't do it, you know," Espo pointed out.

"I know, but he's a jackass and clearly far too full of himself. His lawyer will come in and find we have nothing. He'll demand his release and we'll release him. Maybe this will take him down a peg or two."

"So what's next?" Espo queried since Beckett knew all this already.

"After we release him you two get to question him about what he knows about our victim. He knows something and I want to know what it is." Kate left them and headed to her desk.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] **

Kate walked in carrying a box. "What are those?" It looked like trouble to Ryan.

She dropped the box on his desk. "Castle's greatest hits. You're going to familiarize yourselves with all of his murder scenes so we don't miss anything."

"Got any on tape?" Espo laughed as he took the few books Ryan gave back to him.

"From the library of Katherine Beckett." Ryan grinned and put his finger over the stick-on bookplate that said just that just inside the book.

"You two have a problem with reading?" Kate bristled.

"You're totally a fan!" Espo was loving this.

"Of the genre, yeah. You have a problem with that?" She'd had about enough of this.

"RIGHT. Of the genre. That's why you're blushing," Ryan teased her and the book he was holding was snatched out of his hands.

"Somewhere in those books is where our low intelligence killer will strike next." _So start reading_ was what she left off.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] **

"Is all that Castle's?" Kate was holding a bin of mail in her arms and he saw three more right behind her.

"Yep, his fans love him almost as much as he loves himself." Her opinion of Castle was now at an all time low. What she really wanted was for him to be guilty of murder. This murder, but he loved himself too much to kill someone like he killed in his books.

"Maybe your boy there likes you," Espo pointed and Kate turned to find him in Captain Montgomery's office and the two were talking.

"Beckett." Kate walked to the office door.

"Yes, sir." She just knew she was going to hate this.

"Mr. Castle here has agreed to help us with this investigation," Roy told her.

"Really." It had just gone from really bad to a whole lot worse.

"Anything I can do for the city I love." Rick was all smiles and looked far too smug for her taste.

"Considering the nature of the crime scenes I think it's a good idea." Roy walked away and Rick was looking at her like he had just won something.

"LIKE HELL!" Kate wasn't going to have this egotistical jackass screwing up her investigation.

"Just do it, Beckett." Roy moved to his desk leaving Rick standing in front of her smiling like the slime he was.

Kate groaned and turning to walk away. She needed a new plan.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] **

Kate had another dead body. It was floating in the indoor pool of a high-rise apartment building.

"Death of a Prom Queen." Rick was smiling broadly. He was really loving this.

Kate turned to find Castle standing there when she had left him back at the office.

"Officer!" Kate called one of the uniforms over. "Arrest this man, read him his rights, book him, and put him in holding. He has illegally crossed a crime scene tape and is contaminating my crime scene and interfering with a police officer." Kate tells the guy in uniform.

"WHAT!?" Rick yelped, totally surprised. "Hey!" Rick took his arms back from the officer. He had Captain Montgomerys clearance to be here for this.

"Add resisting arrest to those charges. He should be used to that. He's done it before," Kate added. Smiling she watched as Castle was taken away in cuffs complaining all the way.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] **

"Mr. Castle." The judge had him next on his docket.

Castle and his lawyer stood. "Here, Your Honor."

"Crossing a police line, disturbing the police during a homicide investigation, and resisting arrest. Bail is set at ten thousand dollars." He hit his plate with his gavel. "Next."

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] **

Castle found himself outside with his lawyer. "I don't know what you've gotten yourself into this time, but if you keep this up even knowing the mayor isn't going to get you out of it." He watched as Castle was taken away in cuffs again.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] **

"Dad?" Alexis questioned as they traveled from jail to the loft in a town car instead of a taxi.

"Don't ask." It wasn't supposed to go like this. No one did this to him.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] **

Kate was putting on her vest on the fly and pulling out her weapon with Espo and Ryan right behind her. They meet uniforms in the stairwell.

Kate kicked in the door. "Kyle Cabbott!" They had a potential murderer and they were here to arrest him.

Once inside they didn't find him. Though they did see murder scenes drawn using crayons. On a shelf there was a number of Richard Castle books. Kate took one down and opened it to find more drawings using crayon on the inside.

"Looks like our guy joined your book club." Ryan huffed out a laugh and quickly retreated when Kate gave him a look.

"Beckett, you gotta see this!" someone yelled.

Kate followed the voice and saw Ryan standing to one side looking at what they had found.

Inside was an homage to all things Castle. Book covers, drawings of murders, and even drawing showing a person holding a knife.

"Ooo, that's creepy," a new voice said as Kate and Ryan turned to see who it was.

"Officer!" Kate called out.

"Arrest Mr. Castle. Read him his rights and book him and put him in holding. He has crossed a police only line again. He is contaminating my crime scene again and interfering with a police officer in her line of duty." Kate was getting rid of this jackass one way or another.

"Hey!" Once again she wasn't doing what she was supposed to be doing. She was supposed to be letting him help her work the last murder and this one in his eyes.

"Add resisting arrest and get him out of here." Kate walked away to keep looking around her crime scene.

"Isn't he supposed to be here?" Ryan asked. He thought sure Captain Montgomery had told her Castle was here to help.

"Not my crime scene. When you become lead homicide detective you can let him follow you around and interfere in what you're doing," Kate fired back.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] **

"Moments after Castle was gone they found a man matching the description of Kyle Cabbott behind a door in a closet sitting on the floor, biting his nails, and hitting the back of his head against the wall.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] **

The judge called out the next name. "Mr. Castle."

Castle and his lawyer stood up. "Here, Your Honor."

"Crossing a police only line at a crime scene. Contaminating a crime scene and resisting arrest. Bail is set at ten thousand dollars." He hit his plate with his gavel. "Next."

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] **

Castle was being cuffed yet again while with his lawyer.

"You really need to stop doing this, Rick. One of these times you're not going to have enough money for bail," he warned him and yet also knew he wasn't listening.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] **

"Dad?" Alexis found her self bailing out her dad once more.

"It's not supposed to work like this." Maybe it was time to call the mayor again.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] **

Kate had her coffee and was headed back to her desk when suddenly she saw something she didn't want to see. Castle was sitting at her desk going through her files.

Kate collected the files from his hands. "What do you think you're doing?" Now she was really pissed off.

"It's a novelist habit. Looking through other people's mail, checking what they know," Rick told her, smug and totally pleased with himself.

"What are you doing here?" What she really wanted to know was why he wasn't in jail somewhere since that was where she had sent him.

"I came here to give you this." He showed her a wrapped present.

"Go on, open it," he said.

Kate huffed but opened the box that looked like wrapping paper. There was a book inside. One of his.

"I got you an advanced copy. I even signed it for you. …Not that you're a fan." He still had a smug look on his face that Kate hated seeing.

"Thanks, that's actually kinda…sweet." She hated to admit it but it was nice of him.

"It was nice to have met you, Detective Beckett." Rick picked up his satchel, slung it over his shoulder, then leaned in and kissed her cheek.

Kate was grossed out in the extreme and at first wanted to go the restroom and scrub her face clean. Instead she put her book down and sat down.

"He didn't!" Kate flipped through everything on her desk. "HE DID!" Now she hated him even more.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] **

"Richard Castle!" She had found him and had three uniforms with her to arrest him.

Rick began to grin. "You are under arrest for felony theft and obstruction of justice." Oh, she really had him this time.

Rick let the officer lift him up and cuff him. "Make sure they're tight," Kate ordered.

"You forgot making you look bad," Rick said. "By the way, those rose petals are the wrong type which means you've got the wrong man." Rick was still happy with himself.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] **

"Thank you, Officer." Roy was standing there this time.

"Hello, Father." Alexis didn't know what she was going to do with him this time. Rick saw his mother right behind her.

"Hello, Daughter." Rick hugged her since she was the most important person in his life.

"Captain Montgomery has agreed to drop the charges," Martha informed him.

"No more interfering in this case, Mr. Castle. Do we understand each other?" Even he couldn't overlook felony charges this time.

"Yeah… But you've still got the wrong man," Rick said over his shoulder as he walked away.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] **

"All I know, Dad, is that if you don't stop you're going to have to increase my allowance." She didn't have money for felony arrests to put up bail.

"Mine, too," Martha added as they drove home.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] **

"No, no. Don't tell me. He got to you." Espo found her looking at the murder board that they had taken down just earlier.

"P-lease, he didn't get to me. …She did. He murders a target of opportunity. Then he murders someone he knows really well. After that he murders another target of opportunity. Something doesn't add up."

"So if he didn't kill them then who did?" Espo asked.

"Someone who killed with purpose then kills for convenience to cover up who he wanted to kill. Then makes them look like what's in Castle's books. All he needed was someone he could blame it on. Someone strung out on drugs and can't defend himself or account for his location at the time of the murders. Stage the room so it looks like he's obsessed with Castle.

"So who does he know? Start digging deeper into his past. Only one of these is who our killer really wanted dead. So which one is it?" Kate went back to studying her murder board.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] **

"What are you doing here, Mr. Castle?" Kate didn't not like seeing him here. She'd seen enough of him already and didn't really want to see him again. Problem was he might be here for a reason not associated with her case.

"I have an appointment to see Tisdale," Rick said to her and the lady at the desk.

"I don't need an appointment." Kate showed her her badge and went upstairs thinking she had left Castle behind her only to find him in the elevator with her.

Kate couldn't believe that he was even in the same room and worse, he was walking around touching things and asking Tisdale questions.

"Thank you for your time, Mr. Tisdale." Kate had heard enough and was leaving. Rick sped up to catch up to her.

"That's it? You didn't ask him anything." He was filled with questions.

Back outside Kate was walking away and Rick hurried to keep up with her long strides.

"He's dying." Rick saw a little hot dog stand just sitting there. "You want a hot dog? I want a hot dog."

Suddenly she had his nose in a vicious grip. "OW, ow, ow!" Rick really wanted her fingers off what was left of his nose but didn't dare touch her hand or she might actually take it off completely.

Finally she let go of his nose and now he was holding it to make sure it was still there and functional. "What are you talking about?" What was this idiot going on about now?

"He's sick and I don't mean sick like he has the flu kind of sick." Since his nose was still there. "He's terminal and he's wearing a rug. It's a really nice piece. You would never know he was wearing one except he kept scratching it. It's new, really new to him and it itches. And he's wearing makeup."

Kate couldn't actually believe it, he'd seen something she hadn't. She was still angry that he had even been there; she was still hung up on that.

"His daughter whose picture was everywhere is dead, but his son isn't. So what do you know about the son?" Rick quizzed her.

"We didn't have a reason to investigate him," Kate said.

"Well now you do." Rick walked away, happy with himself. Kate stood there wishing she could take out her gun, shoot him, get him out of her life and off her case.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] **

They had found out that Tisdale Senior had a will. He was leaving everything to his daughter and literally nothing to his son. Add to that his son's business was hurting, not just hurting but spiraling into bankruptcy. Maybe tomorrow it would end up closed.

Now they were outside his door with a warrant, knocking, and announcing themselves.

"Kick it in," Kate ordered and the door slammed against the inside wall. They all rushed inside and called out that they were NYPD.

He was standing at the shredder shredding countless things. He stopped and ran for the window and the fire escape. He could use that to make a break for it then get out of the city.

Espo was faster than him and took him down as they both hit the window, breaking it.

Kate was watching him being taken away in cuffs after being looked at by an EMT. Then she moved over to what he was shredding and found the remnants of a passport still in it. It had been too thick for the machine so it was jammed.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] **

Kate was happy. She had actually closed a case and had arrested the right guy. It destroyed the elder Tisdale's world but then his son had done that when he'd killed his own sister to get his dad's money. Now he wasn't going to get any of it.

Suddenly she was interrupted when Castle sat in the empty chair.

"So we got him." Rick was all smiles since he was sure he was the reason for it.

"Yeah, the son killed his own sister to get his dad's inheritance after the sister dies." It was sick and yet another reason for Kate to question the future of the human race.

Rick leaned in close. "You know we could debrief each other in private." Rick smiled broadly. He didn't mean talk. He meant have sex.

"OFFICER!" Kate yelled at the closest uniform she can see.

"Arrest Mr. Castle here, read him his rights, book him, and lock him up. Sexual harassment," Kate informed both of them.

"What!?" He hadn't expected that. "Hey!" Rick took his arms back and glared at Kate. He was innocent, damn it.

"Add resisting arrest to the charge," Kate ordered.

Kate smiled as she watched Castle being taken away in cuffs yet again. He may have gotten off the felony charge but this one was personal. She was forcing the situation and Montgomery couldn't get him out of this one.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] **

The very same judge as the last time called out. "Mr. Castle."

"Here your honor." Rick and his lawyer stood up. "Here, Your Honor."

"Sexual harassment this time I see, Mr. Castle. You're creating quite the little rap sheet." He was really learning to not like Mr. Castle. "Bail is set at 100 hundred thousand dollars." He picked up his gavel and hit his desk. "Next!"

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] **

Kate came back from still another dead body to set up her murder board.

"Beckett, my office," Roy called from his office door.

Kate walked to his door and saw Castle sitting in his office. As much as she hated seeing him again, she ignored him. "Sir?"

"You had Mr. Castle arrested for sexual harassment?" Roy was getting really tired of this. He had thought this might be a good idea and maybe good for Kate. But this just wasn't working out.

Kate decided to lay it all out so he understood. "Mr. Castle here, is a self absorbed egotistical jackass. A child in an adult body. He takes absolutely nothing seriously. He sat down next to me and suggested that we could debrief each other in private.

"I looked it up. In order for him to be involved in this case, that made him a non-paid consultant. As such that makes him a member of this department in a non-paid capacity. That also requires that he follows our rules. His debrief suggestion was a clear violation of the no sexual harassment policy so I had him arrested.

"He deserves to be in prison and that's where I'm sending him. …Sir!" Kate stormed out of his office.

Roy looked at Rick who actually wilted under his stare. He hadn't meant for it to be sexual harassment. He was just having a little fun with her. Thought maybe, just maybe, she would accept his offer and maybe even better they would end up in one of their beds.

"Rick…" Roy wasn't sure just what to do with him. "Beckett is within her rights. I got you out under my authority. If I can't get her to drop the charges you're going back in cuffs to await bail and then trial."

Rick really couldn't believe this. He had never, ever had this much trouble getting any woman into his bed. He even had a new book idea and Kate was going to be his muse for it. It was just what he needed after killing off Storm.

"You need to promise that you will never, ever under any circumstance attempt to contact Beckett in or out of the office. I don't know what you're thinking but it needs to end. If you're convicted you will end up in jail. As part of the general population." Roy tried to instill a little fear into him.

Rick instantly imagined this big 300 pound naked guy telling him to bend over. "Ouch!"

"This ends now, Rick. All of it. You've taken one step too far this time. I need to hear you promise." Roy had a stern look on his face.

Rick looked at Roy then out at Kate. No one had ever gotten away from him before and losing wasn't something he was used to.

"Your association with the mayor isn't going to help you this time. The mayor is a politician. He doesn't need the spectacle of defending a person arrested for sexual harassment in the police department. He would never get re-elected again. It's politics." The mayor and even himself may still like Rick but this was different.

Rick looked at the floor. "I promise." He hadn't even crossed his fingers behind his back this time. It was the adult Richard Castle that was speaking for a change.


	2. Chapter 2

**Moving On**

_Chapter 2_

_It is now 2 years later_

"Vivian Marshand, stabbed in the back of the neck then stuffed into the sofa." Lanie had beaten all of them there.

"When did she die?" Kate inquired.

"She's in full rigor so I'd say yesterday afternoon as time of death," Lanie replied.

Ryan spoke up. "I've got maintenance workers saying they saw a man leaving the back door yesterday afternoon."

"Dark Caucasian. As good as it gets," Espo commented.

"What I don't get is why stuff her in the couch?" Ryan didn't understand that part.

"She was alive when she went in. There are scratches on her face that suggest she tried to move," Lanie pointed out. "I'll know more when I get her back to the lab."

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate was on the way out when she saw a much older woman with beautiful silver hair. "Vivian is dead, isn't she?" the woman questioned Kate who was on her way out.

"Did you know her?" Maybe Kate had just met someone that could help her with this case.

"I knew her a little. You could say we were competitors in the industry," she told Kate.

"Competitors? In what?" She didn't know Vivian Marshand.

"Please come in." Maybe it was better to show her than just tell her.

Kate followed her into her apartment as she closed the door behind them. "Please." She motioned for Kate to be seated on a love seat. "Would you like some tea or coffee, perhaps?" She wanted to be nice. It was just who she was.

While Kate loved and lived on coffee, she decided to accept a cup of tea. "Tea would be nice, thank you." So far she was just a nice old lady.

The woman left the room, leaving Kate to sit and look around. The place was very nice and far more expensive than she could afford on her pay. Kate wondered if she lived here alone and just how she could afford to live here.

She clearly liked antiques and because of that her color choices were not to her taste, however, the place or at least this room was really nice.

She came back eventually with a tray that had two delicate china tea cups and saucers and a matching teapot filled with a fragrant tea. "It's Chinese Jasmine tea. It's nice." Kate watched her pour and then accepted her cup.

"Thank you." It certainly looked hot so Kate waited for it to cool off. "How did you know Vivian?" Kate needed to get back on topic.

"Vivian was a psychic. She would use her ability to identify information about a person. In her case she would use her gift to find a murderer or a missing murdered person.

"She had a well publicized event where she made a name for herself. Then she hit a rough patch and no one believed anything she said. She was attempting to make a name for herself again," she explained.

"Psychic." Kate showed her disdain for anyone that would suggest they could see anything. They were all fakes.

"Ah, a nonbeliever. I've met my share during my years. Most come around, though a few refuse and stick to what they believe. I don't take offense. If they don't want help they don't have to accept it." She was never hurt by what a person said. She knew what she knew and didn't take offense.

"I take it you're in the industry." Kate knew there were a few everywhere. Most were just people preying on vacationers or people who were desperate. They'd lost a loved one and wanted to talk to that person. Kate had never believed so even after her mother had been murdered she'd never sought one out.

"I use a combination of palm reading and a crystal ball. The lines in your hand are who you are. A psychic like Vivian tries to read what isn't there. You are what is in your hand." She was serious and secure in her skill. She offered to show her. "Would you like a reading, Detective? Free of charge, of course."

"Thank you, no. Did you happen to see anyone visit Vivian late yesterday?" Kate needed to get back on track.

"I was out visiting my daughter and her family. She's a nurse and her husband is an architect. She's a lucky girl. He's a nice man. They have two children, you know. I get to spoil them rotten." She took great pride in her job of spoiling her grandchildren.

"Thank you for your time. And the tea." Even if she hadn't as yet sipped any of it.

"Please, Detective, humor an old woman. It won't hurt. I promise." She got up and went over to a door, waiting for Kate to join her.

Kate humored her and went and looked. It was a really small room. Barely bigger than a small walk-in closet. There were two chairs, one small table with a green tablecloth, and one crystal globe in the middle.

"No, thank you." She didn't need to hear another fake telling her something she didn't need to hear.

"Ten minutes, Detective, and I don't expect anything in return. If you don't like it, ignore it. I don't take offense at what anyone does after I tell them what I find. It's their life and they can do with it as they please. Maybe I'll surprise you." She smiled and waited patiently.

Kate knew this was a mistake but she would do it. Besides, the lady was correct. She could just ignore everything she said and go solve her murder. "Ten minutes." Kate went in and sat down.

The old lady took her seat. "Give me your hand. Either one will do nicely."

Kate was here to humor her so she stuck out her left hand, palm up so she could see it. She took her hand in both of hers and looked it over. Then used a finger to trace out various areas.

"You've had an interesting life and have an interesting future. I know you don't believe and you don't have to. This is your life line. Just like in all those stupid movies you've probably seen." She traced it on Kate's palm.

That had Kate smiling since she was insulting what she did while at the same time doing it.

"Now while that's interesting I could say something like you're going to live a nice long life, but that's not what you're here to hear." She was a nonbeliever so it was up to her to show her something.

"Part of this life line shows you have two serious love life lines. You will love someone to the point that that person's life means more to you than your own does. This line here was the first one." She showed it to Kate by running a fingernail over it. "I say _was_ because that love life has already passed you by.

"Place your palm on the crystal ball please," she instructed Kate and watched her place her palm on the globe. "All of it, like you're trying trying to pick it up with your hand." She waited until Kate had her hand like she wanted it.

Next Kate watched her rub the side of the ball; she finally stopped. "Male. Handsome. Tall. Broad shoulders. He was rich, well rich enough. He had a daughter." Suddenly what she was seeing was gone. "Hand on the crystal ball, please." Kate had moved it.

While Kate had heard enough she put her hand back on the globe.

Then she was smiling. "You didn't like him. Yet you didn't give him a chance. You saw the book cover and didn't bother to read the book." Kate took her hand off the globe.

Kate loved reading and she couldn't think of anyone whose cover she'd seen and simply dismissed.

"You know who I'm talking about, don't you? Or it will come to you. Give me your hand again." She wasn't done yet.

Kate didn't so much as give her her hand as much as she let her hand be taken.

"That love is gone. You can't recover it. Too much damage has been done. However, see this line here?" She traced a finger over what to Kate was just another line in her skin.

"This is your next and very last chance. If you dismiss this person you'll live without love until you die. You may think you love someone but it will be a fake love. Something you've convinced yourself is all you're entitled to.

"This person will love you back just as hard. This person would rather kill themselves than hurt you. You have not met this person yet. In fact had you allowed your first love to reach you, this person would give you pause as to whether you truly loved him.

"I think the movies call it the seven year itch. This would be your itch, just don't fall for it being seven years or you will miss this person. If you let this person in you will know the type of love you have dreamed about." She sat back in her chair now that she was done.

"I don't suppose you can tell me about this person." Not that Kate believed, but her heart was trying to reach her head.

"Always in motion is the future. I can see who you rejected a little, but not who your future love is." She felt bad about that. This woman had already rejected love and she was betting she would do it again.

So she sat forward and took her hand again. "Please, Detective, believe me or not, that's up to you. But this person that you haven't even met yet will be your very last chance. Love is a very precious thing. You watched your parents love each other. You can have that too if you will just allow yourself." She let go of Kate's hand.

"It's your life, live it as you see fit. However, you are doing yourself a great injustice. I loved my husband very much until he was taken from me. I love my children and I love my grandchildren very much. If you give yourself a chance you can have this as well."

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Thank you for listening to an old woman, Detective. I really hope you find who murdered Vivian. She didn't deserve that and I'm sure her daughter's hurting because of it. Something I'm sure you are familiar with. Good luck, my dear." She smiled as she closed the door on her.

Kate walked toward the elevator to go to the Precinct and get started on solving her latest case. As much as her head was telling her that the old woman was just another fake, her heart was trying to reach her head.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"You're not going to believe this." Espo walked up to Beckett. "Vivian's daughter is pretty sure that Albert is Albert Moreno." He handed over the file that held a picture of him.

Kate knew that name. "Albert the blade runner?"

"Spelano crime family," Espo confirmed.

"And Vivian put him away with her supposed skill?" Kate still didn't believe even after that old lady.

Espo told her what he'd found out. "He's her client. Vivian told him that if he invested in a New Jersey real estate deal, true happiness would be his. The deal fell through and he lost everything."

"So you get stabbed in the neck with an ice pick." Kate put his picture on her board. "And stuffed into a couch." He was looking really good for this in her eyes.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Yes, I went to see her. Three months ago Vivian told me I should invest in this New Jersey real estate deal. Then I quit my day job. I was looking to set myself up nicely for a future."

"Instead you lost it all," Kate observed.

"Yes, I was…upset. She canceled our last appointment and that didn't help any," Albert confirmed.

"And you went to see her around 3:00 o'clock," Kate pointed out.

"I told her her I'm selling my home because I can't afford to pay my broker," Albert admitted.

"Then what happened? You got angry. Did things get physical?" Kate still loved him for this.

"No, but I was angry." He started nodding. "And when I'm angry some people get nervous. She begged me to let the universe sort itself out. That she was late for an appointment uptown," Albert revealed.

"Did she say with who?" Kate inquired.

"No, by then I was late for my appointment with my broker so I left about 2:00 o'clock. And just like that, the universe sorted itself out." Smiling, he slid over to the blonde that he'd stopped just inside the door, trying to sell her his house.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand." Kate was taken out of her game. He was perfect and yet…this.

"Turns out my broker's partner is Loraine here. My high school sweetheart." Then they quickly kissed in front of her.

"She meant I'd meet her again, I've never been so happy and I've never left her side." The look he gave her was almost making Kate sick.

Kate left but still liked him for killing Vivian BEFORE the universe righted itself.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"I didn't kill her," Steve yelled.

Kate informed him of what he already knew. "You were the last one to see her alive. The GPS on your ankle indicates that you were at her office for over an hour."

"Yeah, but it's not what you think. I got a call from a reality show producer, said he could help me clear my name," Steve told them much more calmly.

"The day after my wife disappeared Vivian Marshand said she had a vision of me and my girlfriend. Then she started telling me that she had visions of me killing my wife, which I did _not_ do. But she was right about Amber so everyone believed her."

"So if you got this producer to help you prove that Vivian was a fraud you could use that to clear you of murder," Kate suggested.

"Vivian was a liar. She had a book deal about me killing my wife. If I gave her an amount equal to 10% of the sales she would clear me. Then Vivian would get in that reality show and make more money," Steve said.

"Cody, the producer, and I confronted her outside her place with a camera. Cody told me to play it up so I did. Mostly she just freaked, got in a cab, and took off. Cody took me home and I never saw her again," Steve insisted.

That left Kate with a problem. He had a possible alibi plus he had a GPS device strapped to his ankle.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Get hold of Cody. I want to see all of that footage here in the morning," Kate told Ryan who left her to arrange just that.

She stood there looking at her murder board. She still had whoever T.J. was that was on her calendar for 3:00.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate was taking down everything on her murder board.

"Well, she really was murdered because she was psychic," Ryan pointed out.

"Only because because someone believed her and thought she knew too much. She couldn't risk that Vivian knew she had murdered her husband because he was cheating on her. So using her own daughter as an alibi in a restaurant, she buys a bottle of wine and leaves her with it. Buys an ice pick along the way, confronts Vivian, and stabs her. Stuffs her in the couch to hide the body and throw off our timeline. Types up that murder note and doesn't sign it since she can't.

"There was nothing psychic about any of it except people falling for it that gets a fake psychic murdered. I hope this teaches you a lesson," Kate told Ryan who was all that was there with her.

"Don't get murdered?" Ryan offered since he was teasing.

"Don't believe in psychics." Kate rolled her eyes at him and kept cleaning her board.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Her case was solved and she had her murderer. It was up to the prosecutor to get a conviction. Her job was done. Now she had just one more thing to take care of. This one was for herself.

Kate knocked on the door and waited. She was going to explain to this old lady that while what she'd said was interesting, it was all fake. She would thank her for her time and then leave.

Instead a thin, good-looking, black man who was dressed rather well answered the door. "Yes?"

It took Kate a moment to recover. This wasn't who she was expecting. Kate pulled her badge from her belt and held it up. "I'm Detective Kate Beckett. NYPD. I'm looking for an older Caucasian woman with silver hair."

Kate kicked herself for never getting her name or even looking her up. She literally had no idea who she was.

"I don't know anyone who fits your description," he said.

"I…" Kate didn't understand. "I met her here. She lives here."

"My wife and I live here. We've lived here for almost three years. I can assure you it's just me and my wife." Then suddenly an equally thin black woman stepped up to him.

"Who's this, Jacob?" she inquired.

"An NYPD detective. She says she met an old lady here," he explained to his wife.

"There's no one here like that. We just got back last evening from a five night cruise to the Bahamas. My thoughtful husband surprised me with a do over of our honeymoon that turned into a disaster." She hugged him since she loved him for it.

Kate didn't know what to do now. "May I have a look around?" Maybe if the interior was different she had the wrong door.

"Of course." Suzan let her in. They had nothing to hide.

Kate walked in and looked the place over. Just like last time all of the furniture was antiques just like she remembered. Even the pictures on the walls and all of the paint colors were the same. Everything was just like it was supposed to be.

Now she was really confused. Then she strode over to the door of the room the lady had done the reading in. Kate opened the door. Shocked, she saw it was a tiny coat closet. It had coats for him and her hanging inside it. She searched it and realized it was so tiny that even she would barely fit inside it let alone a table and the two of them.

She also saw a baseball bat, a hockey stick, and some winter boots.

"It's just a closet." Jacob was still next to Suzan, both of them unsure just what she was looking for.

Kate turned around and looked the place over. Except for the closet, this was the right place. "I'm terribly sorry to have disturbed you." She had clearly gotten something wrong somewhere.

"There is one thing," Suzan said. She left her husband and went into another room.

"I forgot about that. We found it on the floor just inside the door. Like someone had slipped it under the door. It didn't make any sense to us so we threw it in the trash," Jacob explained.

Suzan returned and handed Kate a small card about the size of a business card. "We found that. It didn't mean anything to us. Maybe it will mean something to you."

Kate looked at the card and saw just four words on it. She was quite familiar with the handwriting on it. She felt her heart stop and suddenly the room just disappeared as did everything else. It was a shock that her mind couldn't explain. But her heart had an explanation.

_**I Told You So**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Moving On**

_Chapter 3_

_It is now three weeks later_

Kate answered the door to her apartment and wasn't surprised to find Lanie on the other side. She also wasn't surprised when Lanie walked right past her into her living room. "Okay, girlfriend, what's going on?" Kate's tone of voice and deflection of her questions had gotten her over here so she could get straight answers.

Kate sighed as she closed and locked the door then went into the kitchen.

Lanie tried again. "Talk to me, Kate. I'm your best friend and you've got me worried."

Kate pulled out the cork and got out two glasses. Lanie instantly knew that if alcohol was required whatever it was was serious. She took her glass and waited.

"I found this card." Kate handed it over and then drank almost half of her glass.

Lanie read the card. _I told you so._ Okay, it had a certain warning to it but what had Kate so worked up over it?

"That was my mother's favorite saying. She used it against me all the time. Every time she proved that I was wrong about something," Kate explained.

"Okay, so you were going through stuff she left behind." Big deal.

"That's not where I got that from." Kate knew she was going to have to explain. "Do you remember the Vivian Marchand case?"

Lanie thought for a moment. "The psychic. Some lady stuck an ice pick in her neck and stuffed her into a couch, if I remember correctly."

"That's the one. …I encountered this older lady with silver hair who it sounded like she knew something about Vivian, so I questioned her. During the questioning she offered to read my palm and use this crystal globe." Kate paused since even today this sounded stupid to her.

"And you brushed her off since that's who you are. Psychics are frauds, you say it all the time," Lanie said since she knew Kate. "You _didn't_ ?"

"I did," Kate moaned, drank the rest of her glass, and refilled it. "It was just to appease her and prove that she was a fraud." They all were and mostly still were all frauds.

"I let her read my palm and she told me the usual, 'Here's your life line,' and such. However she showed me these two lines off of my life line and said these were my love lines.

"Next thing I know she's got me putting my palm on her crystal globe and she's looking into it. She tells me that someone I could fall in love with and love me back had been presented to me and that I had blown off this person. That person was gone and I wasn't getting that back," Kate related.

There was no way in hell that she was telling her that that person was Castle. There was no way she was going to fall in love and marry that jackass. A year after she'd gotten rid of him he was still in the news. Going to parties with lovely big titted bimbos that had more hair on their legs than they had brain cells. There were even questions about which of them he was going to marry next.

Then she stopped caring and had no idea what he was or wasn't doing now. About the only thing she had noticed was that there hadn't been a new book from him lately.

"So what has that go to do with this?" Lanie held up the card.

"I'm getting there. …She goes on to tell that me had one last chance for that kind of love. It was in my future and that if I dismissed that person, that was it for me." Kate took a drink. "After the case was over I went back to prove to myself or her, that she was just another fraud."

Lanie nodded. "I can see that. Kate Beckett doesn't believe so everyone has to believe what you do. Go on."

Kate glared at her but continued anyway. "A couple answered the door and said that they lived there for the last three years. They had no idea who I was talking about. They'd just gotten back the previous evening from a cruise to the Bahamas.

"They let me in to look the place over and everything was the same. It looked just like it did with her. Then I went to the room she had taken me into. It was just big enough for her table that had a green cloth on it with a crystal globe in the middle and two chairs.

"This time it was a tiny coat closet. It held a few coats, some winter boots, baseball bat, and even a hockey stick, but that was all. I barely fit in it let alone that table and two chairs." Kate paused since what came next was the hardest part.

"Then they told me that they'd found this card just inside the door when they got home." Kate said.

"This card." Lanie raised it again and then read it to herself once more.

"That's my mother's handwriting, Lanie. I've analyzed it for hours, days even." She didn't have an explanation for that.

Lanie thought about it. "So someone got a sample of her handwriting and duplicated it."

"Then why leave it with them? I never told anyone that I let that lady read my palm. You're the first. And how would anyone know my mother's favorite saying? Just my dad and me." It all left Kate with a problem.

"So if it's not fake, is her handwriting, and no one knows, that only leaves one thing." Lanie was willing to say it.

"Don't say it. It's fake. It has to be." Kate drained her glass, saw that her bottle was empty, and sighed.

"Yet that's not what has you worried. The fake part I mean. What if that lady was your mother and she just gave you a warning?" Lanie suggested even if Kate didn't want to hear it.

Kate put down her now empty glass and finally sat down. "What am I going to do?" Palm reading was all fake, it had to be, and yet there was that card and that apartment. Her head told her one thing but her heart was fighting back, though she'd stopped listening to it years ago.

"Fall in love." Lanie didn't see any other option for her. She loved her best friend and wanted what was best for her.

"Lanie!" She wasn't falling in love with anyone just because she couldn't explain an old lady that she couldn't find and a card that had her mother's handwriting that could have been written by anyone with that knowledge.

"Fine, don't listen to me or her. …Do you remember what you told me during that case that Castle helped with? The one with all the rose petals?" Lanie asked and Kate's heart just about stopped. Talking about Castle and thinking that he was the one she was supposed to have fallen in love with wasn't something she wanted to think about.

"No." She remembered everything including what she had said but wasn't going to admit it.

"I said, '_Who said romance was dead?' _You responded with, '_I do, every Saturday night.' _ So when was the last time you went out on a date? When was the last time you got laid?" Lanie queried.

Actually Kate didn't remember her last date and really didn't remember the last time she'd gotten laid. Work took up most of her life.

"That's what I thought." Lanie knew her friend well. "Before you reject it, pretend for a moment that the old lady was your mother. She tells you that your chance of finding love has already passed you by, however you have one more chance.

"Yeah, yeah." Lanie beat her to it. "You don't believe in that stuff, but what if it was? Are you going to ignore your own mother and live your life all alone for the rest of your life? Just to prove she was a fake? Ruin your love life just to make your dead mother suffer? To prove that what you think is correct?" Lanie challenged her.

"So I'm supposed to do what? Go out with anyone who talks to me? Most of the people I meet are killers or other cops." Kate already had a rule. Never date your co-workers. It could only end in misery for both people.

This time Lanie glared at her. She knew better than that and she knew what she was supposed to do. "So don't believe. Live the rest of your life just like you are now. Don't fall in love, don't ever get married, don't ever have kids. That'll show your mother." Lanie tried that technique instead.

What Kate wanted to do was say, _"Dead mother talking through a nonexistent old lady who reads palms_._"_ Except that would admit that it was her dead mother and that she was talking to her from the dead. Which was impossible.

"So what's it going to be, Kate? You got me over here because of the way you sounded. If you were so secure in your belief we wouldn't be having this conversation. So what's it going to be?" Lanie demanded.

"I'll shoot myself," Kate said. Then she finally looked at Lanie. Kate put her head down on the table. "Keep my eyes open." As stupid as it sounded.

"Just make sure you do. Or you can explain it to your mother when you finally meet her when that time finally comes…years from now." Lanie looked her over and left to go home.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate picked up the phone and listened. "Olga Shishkov?" She'd never heard the name before. Then she listened some more. "Send her up." Kate hung up the phone and waited.

The sound of heels on the floor had her turning to look. She was tall and had short brown hair. She was wearing a light brown dress that had spaghetti straps and a scoop neck. It was clear she wasn't wearing a bra. It was full length and had a bit of slit up the side. She was wearing six inch metallic gold high heels.

She had every man on the floor turning and running into things.

She stopped just in front of her. "Detective Beckett."

"You're Olga Shishkov." Kate recognized the name as being Russian so she already liked her.

"You left this at my door." Olga handed over a card that had her name on it. At least on the back side she had left something to remind her what she wanted to talk to the person in that apartment about.

"Please sit down." Kate watched her sit at the chair next to her desk and cross her legs.

"Technically it was a place I was watching while a friend of mine was gone on vacation. I thought I should come since it would be me if I had been there at the time," Olga informed her.

"You're Russian." Kate was happy to see someone from Russia.

"My parents are Russian. I was born when they lived in Paris. Then when I was a child we moved to Montreal. I have a Canadian passport, France passport, and a United States passport. Don't ask. I speak Russian, thanks to my parents; French, thanks to growing up in Montreal; and of course English. I suppose in a way you can say I'm more Canadian than anything else. French Canadian naturally. So what can I help you with, Detective?" Olga inquired.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Eto byla radost' vstrechi s vami, detektiv Bekket,"* Olga told her and watched Kate smile back at her. She was tall, lovely, and a homicide detective which told Olga a fair amount about her.

"Spasibo chto prishli,"** Kate answered. It felt good to be able to use her Russian again. She thought she would lose it from lack of use.

"You're Russian is excellent. You have more of an accent than I do. I wish you luck with your case, Detective Beckett." Olga smiled and started to leave. But she stopped and turned back. It was time to take one tiny chance.

"Mogu ya ugovorit' tebya vypit' kofe so mnoy po utram? Vy vybirayete mesto," Olga queried.

Kate actually thought about it for a second. "Thank you, no."

"As you wish. I still wish you luck, Detective." Olga walked away and everyone could hear her high heels on the floor as she moved toward the elevator.

"Friend of yours, Beckett?" Espo only had eyes for her new friend.

"She can be my friend," Ryan said as Espo began laughing.

"You two need to get a life," Kate replied. She loved them but they were both the type of guys only certain types of woman would find desirable and she was betting Olga was way above their pay grade.

Kate opened her drawer to retrieve something and instantly saw that cursed card.

**_I told you so_**

She picked it up and looked at it. Something got her up and hurrying toward the elevator. "WAIT!" But the door closed and she was gone.

She was gone and she should go back to her desk and get back to work. Instead she was flying down the stairs in her high heels to try and beat the elevator to the ground floor.

She came around the corner and found the elevator was almost there. When the doors opened she saw Olga standing there. Olga took a single step and then she smiled. But Olga stood there too long and the elevator doors began to close forcing her to put out a hand to stop them. Olga glided out of the elevator. "Detective?" It was still up to her.

"I've changed my mind. Follow me." Kate turned around and strode out the front doors and stopped. Olga was standing next to her. Kate pointed down the street. "See the coffee shop just down the street?" Kate asked and turned to see her nod. "7:00 am tomorrow?"

"budu tam,"**** Olga told her and turned back to smile. "Mogu ya sprosit', chto peredumalo?"***** Olga was curious. She had sounded sincere in her denial.

"It's a long story." Kate was willing to say.

"YA s neterpeniyem zhdu, chtoby uslyshat' eto. Do 7:00 zavtra."****** Olga didn't go far and got into a car that Kate wasn't really familiar with. Once back upstairs she was going to do some research on just what it was. It looked to be a convertible with the top up; it was Ferrari red with a black top.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate had found the car and started doing some reading about it.

"You planning on buying a car, Beckett?" Espo had somehow managed to get behind her without her noticing.

She turned and glared at him. "Don't you have work to do?"

Espo couldn't help himself. "Your friend might like it."

"Perhaps you should finish before you leave tonight." Maybe that would get him back to his desk.

"I'm going." Espo went back to his desk thinking he had just scored some points.

Kate went back to reading.

_When Triumph added the 2.5-liter, six-cylinder engine to the TR4 to create the one-year-only 1968 TR250—a car known as the TR5 overseas—the brand immediately launched a styling update project with German body manufacturer Karmann. Triumph requested tooling 14 months later, and the TR6 was introduced on schedule. It came to market 15 months after the TR5's arrival. The TR6 also came on the heels of the 1968 merger of Leyland and BMC._

_The TR6 retained the basic shape of Giovanni Michelotti's TR4, but the cleaner lines of the new front- and rear-end styling gave it a sharper image. The designers moved the headlights outboard, changed the grille and bumpers, and smoothed the hood._

_The new, chopped-off tail provided better aerodynamics and more luggage space. The interior retained the traditional wooden dash and large dials, yet gained new seats with headrests._

_The hallmark stiff ride was maintained as part of the marque pedigree, but handling was improved. Top speed was a respectable 109 mph, and drivers fell in love with the robust power at low revs._

_Model changes throughout the seven-year production run were few. Triumph lowered the compression ratio twice, but the car's stated horsepower always remained between 104 and 106._

_Triumph did change the optional overdrive units for 1973, as the J-type replaced the earlier A-type. The most significant difference between the units involved when they could be engaged; the later version only operated on third and fourth gear, while the earlier version would also work when in second gear. Both overdrives are desirable options, as they make highway cruising much more pleasant._

It wasn't a super car like a Lamborghini or Ferrari or even Maserati, however it was cute and it was a convertible. Not particularly useful in New York City, but it was nice.

Kate thought it kind of fit her and her heritage. "Three passports, though." She shook her head. She'd never heard of such a thing so she looked that up.

_A person born in the United States would hold US citizenship under jus soli (right of soil) for being born on American soil. The same person could also be a naturalized British citizen, by living in the United Kingdom for the required years, hence making him a dual citizen of both Britain and USA._

_However, that person could also be eligible for a third citizenship of another country (which allows dual citizenship as well) under the concept of jus sanguinis, which is the right to citizenship by descent, or ethnic and cultural origins._

_An example of such a country would be Ireland, Italy, or Greece._

_As long as every country you intend to be a citizen of allows dual citizenship in one form or the other, there will not be a cap on the number of citizenships you can hold._

_You should, however, bear in mind that certain countries do restrict the rights of people holding dual citizenships, like Australia, for example, where dual citizens cannot stand for elections, or naturalized American citizens who cannot run for the office of President if they are not born on American soil._

_You should also check the requirements of the country regarding military service for some countries demand citizens to compulsorily enlist if you are under the eligible age, while others do not permit dual citizens to join their military as long as they hold another passport._

"So why would she say, '_Don't ask?'_" Now Kate had a question and a mystery to solve since it looked like it was possible to have three or even more legally.

She was tempted to look her up, but decided against it. That was getting far too close to being a stalker and that wasn't her. Olga hadn't done anything wrong and had been kind enough to come in and answer her questions.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate was ready to go home and opened her drawer to get her weapon out and anything else she needed and immediately saw that damn card. "What am I doing?"

It was too late now. Still it was just coffee and then she could never see her again.

"I could use another friend and she speaks Russian." Kate left the card and decided that yes, she would show and try and learn something. Maybe they could speak Russian the entire time.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate was actually a little late and just the tiniest bit scared. She saw her car so knew she was already there. That she drove everywhere told her she didn't use taxis like most people did and it had her wondering just why.

Stepping inside she saw her immediately and saw that she had been noticed. Kate got in line and ordered her usual cup of coffee when she ordered something from here. It was better than the coffee in the precinct.

"Hi, sorry I'm late." Kate sat down across from her at the little table that was just big enough to handle cups of coffee and maybe a danish.

"You're fine, I haven't been here all that long. I tried to anticipate not finding a place to park right away and gave myself some extra time. I got lucky." Olga shrugged a shoulder.

"You don't have much of any accent." Kate was wondering why.

"Lucky me, ay."******* Olga added what she was likely used to hearing. "I'm French, remember. Well mostly."

Kate smiled since it was a little humorous. "I saw your car. A Triumph TR6. It's cute."

"Perhaps I'll let you drive it some day. It was a piece of junk when I found it and had it rebuilt with some modifications." Then Olga proceeded to tell her everything she had done to it. "It has the standard V6 but I had a supercharger added to it. Gives it about 40 extra horsepower. A new 270 degree camshaft and stainless steel dual exhaust system. Moss-designed tube shock conversion kit. Polyurethane suspension bushings. Differential mount stabilizer. Four-piston brake upgrade kit with slotted ceramic brake pads. A high-torque starter motor, high-performance cobalt plug wires, a stainless steel heat shield for the carburetors. Electronic conversion kit to upgrade the distributor points to electronic switching with a PerTronix ignitor. A Borg and Beck clutch kit connected to a 7-speed manual transmission. …Oh, and 17x7 wheels."

"And a new black sun fast top. The old one looked like someone had taken a knife to it and shredded it. I might still have some pictures somewhere." Olga chuckled. "I haven't overwhelmed you, have I?" She didn't want to put Kate off.

"NO, I actually got most of that actually. You've done a lot of work." Kate was thinking it was a simple TR6, now she knew better. "A wolf in sheep's clothing." People would not be expecting it to do what it could do.

"Pretty much. She's my baby. …So homicide detective. An interesting choice." She had yet to ever meet one until now.

"I like it. I typically get the weird ones. A simple mugging gone wrong is easy to solve. The weird ones take more work. And I get to bring closure to the family. It's satisfying work. Once I finally made it past the male dominance and having them think I fucked my way to it." Kate had worked hard.

"Yes, couch casting. Just a different couch. Still we're better off here than some countries where women are worth almost nothing." Olga hated that. They were people, not slaves to be treated like shit.

"So what do you do?" Kate hadn't looked her up so she could ask.

"I dabble mostly. My latest one was a dress that I sold to a designer. He could call it his own since I sold it to him. I also do some consulting work as well as solve problems for people or companies. It keeps me busy most of the time. Right now I'm working on a coat for an upcoming show. If he likes it he'll buy it and call it his own. I don't mind since it's mostly for fun anyway." It kept her busy and out of trouble.

Kate's phone started to announce that she had a message. "I've got a body. I need to go."

"Same place and time tomorrow?" Olga asked. "Same bat time, same bat channel?" Olga smiled.

That had Kate chuckling. She recognized that saying. "I'd like that." Olga was still a mystery but she was fun and had a sense of humor.

Translations using Google Translate

* It was the joy of meeting you, Detective Beckett.

** Thank you for coming.

*** May I persuade you to have coffee with me in the morning? You choose a place.

**** I will be there.

***** My I ask what changed your mind?

****** I look forward to hearing this. Until 7:00 tomorrow.

******* ah.


	4. Chapter 4

**Moving On**

_Chapter 4_

Kate was a little early this time to reach the coffee shop. She had ordered and received her cup of coffee and had found an empty table up next to the window. She had already sipped it a few times when she saw a red TR6 go past her. It was Olga. Then a few moments later she saw her go back the opposite direction. Kate grinned. She was having trouble finding a place to park this time.

Fifteen minutes later she watched her walk in wearing a short red dress that had spaghetti straps and a low cut front. Once again it wasn't hard to tell that she wasn't wearing a bra.

Kate saw a wave as she got in line to order then wait. She was soon walking her way with her cup and a bag.

"Sorry, I couldn't find a place to park this time," Olga apologized and as she sat down she gave Kate a clear view down her top of her breasts. Kate knew she shouldn't look but couldn't help herself. They looked to be about her size yet firm.

"I noticed." Kate used a hand to show her go one way and then back the other.

"Yeah, I'm not exactly close this time. …I got us something." She took out two bear claws and set them on the bag. "We're both a little skinny," Olga commented, including herself in that statement.

Kate corrected her, "Athletic, not skinny."

"I like it! I'll have to remember that one." Olga was beginning to like Kate a little more.

"So why do you drive? Most everyone uses taxis," Kate inquired. Not that she wasn't happy to see her little red car.

"Since my friend is back I'm back home so I drove from the Bronx this time," Olga explained.

"I'm sorry, I just assumed that you lived closer. We can find a place closer to you." She was driving farther than Kate thought.

"Nonsense. You need to be closer to work than I do. I work from home and I don't mind. Gives me a reason to drive my little baby. …So how was your dead body? Besides being dead, naturally." She was curious.

Kate told her what she could since it was an ongoing case. "We got the call that it was an officer down. We found him at the bottom of a set of stairs. One of those almost underground places. Turned out he had a fake badge, Velcro pants, and a water pistol almost out of tequila. Cheap, inexpensive tequila."

Olga was taking a sip and almost spit it out. "A stripper!" She looked around since she'd said that just a little too loudly. "Are there pictures?" she asked a good bit softer.

"Several and no, I can't show them to you." They were evidence and couldn't leave the precinct.

"And just when I was starting to like you," Olga fake pouted. "So who killed him?"

"We're still working on that. We started with his ex since she had a restraining order out against him and yet she was at the party." Kate could tell her that much.

"Ooo, I'm starting to like your job. What does it take to be a homicide detective?" Olga was teasing since she wasn't that interested in being a homicide detective. She had a much better job and it paid really well when she had a task.

"Three or four years as a beat officer. Then enter Vice and pretend your a hooker before getting noticed and taking lots of tests. After that you go through a year or two under a tutor to teach you and that's after the NYPD academy."

"A hooker. You were a hooker?" Olga was really starting to like her now.

"Fake hooker with a gun and a badge. Some of the stuff I wore should have been burned instead of worn. Not a period of my life I want to remember that badly. Some of the men you meet." Kate shook her head. Maybe that had something to do with her not dating all that much.

"Makes you remember when you were little and all boys were yucky. Then your hormones hit you and suddenly you become stupid." Olga took a bite of her bear claw then a sip of her coffee.

"I hear that. I still don't know what possessed me to date some of the guys I dated. Pretty sure my parents thought I had lost my mind." Kate took a bite then a sip.

"At least you didn't end up pregnant. Unless there's something you want to tell me." Like she had a child at home or in daycare right now.

"No, thank God. Not that I didn't have a scare. Almost drove me to stop drinking." That had Olga chuckling. Then Kate's phone said she had a message.

Kate pulled it out and looked at it. "Let me guess, you need to go," Olga said as Kate nodded.

"I'm sorry, we've got a lead." Kate realized that she really did want to stay and talk. Olga was fun.

"It's your job. Go find out who killed your stripper. Same time tomorrow?" Olga queried.

"I'll be here. Good luck with your coat." Kate remembered that she was making one for someone.

"Thanks." Olga watched jog down the street until she crossed the street then disappeared into a building.

In front of her was the drive home.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Olga pressed the button on the remote that opened the garage door and then again to close it.

She walked past her other car and ran a hand down the side of it. Then took out a key to unlock the door. Just inside she saw the alarm was still active and keyed in the code to turn it off. Then the code to turn part of it back on again.

Going up the stairs got her to the next level and another door that was locked. Then into a mud room. One of the doors was a closet. The other door led into her living room.

She walked into the kitchen and got a bottle of water out of the fridge. She chugged it and went to her bedroom where she stripped. She went back out and across to the bathroom. In there was the his and hers walk-in closet that was now a hers and hers closet.

The commode had its own door, two sinks far apart and a large walk-in shower that she turned on and waited for the hot water to reach it.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Now clean again, dry, and dressed modestly, she went upstairs and turned on her computer. There was actually a second bedroom that was small and two studies, one of which had her computer and work station.

Sitting down she typed in her password to gain access and saw she had an email with a large attachment. Not surprisingly the attachment was encrypted as was the message itself.

It meant she was being offered a job so she put in her code to read the message and the another code to download the attachment.

"This is going to take some time." Just like it always did.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Tomorrow!?" Olga was shocked. She had always been offered a little time to reach the site. "You could have given me a little warning, you know," she yelled at the monitor as she read.

Then she saw what she was being offered in compensation. "Oh." Maybe that explained why the short notice. "Let's see what they want me to do." Olga knew she could say no. That was the reason she got paid for her acceptance and why she was freelance.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Several hours later and Olga was down in the kitchen making dinner. She had checked her finances and knew that if she took the job her finances would increase greatly. It was important but not the most significant part. The job was important to her adopted country.

"Fine." Olga went upstairs to respond to the request; she would take the job. Now she needed a new plan and she had one. But could she talk her into it?

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate picked up her ringing phone and listened. "Send her up." Kate couldn't begin to think why Olga was here during the day. Though technically it was late and she was thinking about going home soon.

Kate saw her come out of the elevator only this time she was wearing what looked more like a combat suit. It was form fitting and clearly made of leather. It even reminded her of her motorcycle leathers. She had a big bag and a backpack on her back.

"Olga?" She wasn't even wearing makeup.

"Hi, I have a plane to catch so I don't have much time. I have a…job. It will probably take me about a week to complete. I wanted to know if you wanted to house sit," Olga asked her.

"Job, what kind of job?" She looked more like one of their SWAT teams than the woman she knew.

"Please. I trust you. You're the police. Who else should I trust? It's just for a week. …More or less." She was hoping it was only a week.

Kate tried again. "What job?"

"I can't tell you that." She was afraid this might be a problem.

"Why not?" She was the police after all just like she admitted.

"Because…" Olga moaned. Maybe she should have just left her home alone for a week. It should be safe. "Because you don't have the security clearance and I can't give you one." Olga saw the look of shock on her face.

"I'm offering to trust you with my home while I'm gone. Even when I get back I can't tell you. …I could have just left and left you in the dark," Olga mentioned.

"I'm still in the dark," Kate pointed out since Olga wasn't telling her anything.

"Fine." Olga turned to leave. She was short on time and didn't have time to try and convince her. Her charter plane was waiting for her.

"I don't even know where you live," Kate yelled at her. Olga stopped and came back.

Olga took out a piece of paper from her pocket and gave it to Kate.

"My address, security code to disarm and arm the security system," Olga told her. Then she reached in a different pocket. "This is the key to the front door and several other doors. This is the key to the studio apartment that I don't use and isn't rented out at the moment. And this…" She reached into another pocket. "This is the key to my baby. Drive her if you want to. Just take good care of her."

"Thanks, I owe you for this." Olga finally turned and did leave this time.

"Yeah, you owe me an explanation," Kate told the empty space in front of her.

Thankfully Espo and Ryan were already gone so they weren't witnesses to this.

Kate looked at the address. "It's in the Bronx." Then she looked at the security code. It was five digits instead of three or four followed by the number to disarm and the number to press to rearm it.

The house key was brass while the apartment was silver. Then she looked at the key to the car. She started to smile until it occurred to her that if she wrecked it Olga would kill her.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate was wearing her leathers, had a weekend bag over her back, and a helmet on her head as she rode through the streets to reach the address.

She was following the numbers as best she could since not every place seemed to have a number. Then suddenly she had passed it, forcing her to turn around. 2445 was an odd number so it had to be on that side of the street.

When she turned around again so she could count numbers again she pulled over off the road and then finally saw the numbers.

"It's a church. Why would she give me an address to a church?" It even had a steeple that looked like it still had a bell in it. There was a side road so she took it and that was when she saw a driveway and that the back side of the church had a garage door.

She parked her bike in the driveway and turned it off. She had a key so she walked around to the front with her bag and pulled out the brass key and found that it fit and unlocked both locks easily.

"A church." She shook her head and searched her bag for the security code. Just inside she found the security panel, keyed in the code, and pressed the disarm button.

Inside she found two closets on the left and a set of stairs going up to the right. After closing and locking the door behind her she went up the stairs. At the top of the stairs she found a wall in front of her and a hallway to her right so she took a few steps and stopped in her tracks and dropped her bag.

"HOLY SHIT!" In front of her was an open set of stairs going up next to a wall that didn't reach the ceiling. Though the ceiling didn't even reach the roof.

There was dark wood wainscoting on the wall. Massive wood beams that exposed the dark wood roof. The peak had to be at least thirty feet tall. There was a dry bar against the wall and a small dining room table that seated four in the middle. The floors were a really light colored wood. They matched the wall color above the wainscoting.

Kate left her bag behind and walked in deeper until she reached the table. Then she saw what had to be the living room. "WOW!" It was domed and had a fireplace on the far wall. But it was the ceiling that had her attention as she walked that way.

The ceiling was painted like what you saw in the Sistine Chapel. It was gorgeous. The fireplace looked to be gas fired. There were beautiful stained glass windows to either side of the fireplace. In front of it was a coffee table. It had a throw rug in the middle that was mostly red. On it was the coffee table, a light gray loveseat, a single large and deep chair, and a darker leather and wood chair.

She couldn't help but look up at the ceiling until she bumped into the coffee table. Looking down she saw the kitchen. It had windows that reached the roof on the outside wall. Under that was the kitchen. A sink and two different range tops. The cabinets were dark wood while the island had dark bluish gray real wood panels. The countertops were some type of granite like material.

On the wall next to the sink was a large double door refrigerator and freezer and next to it was a double oven in the wall. Looking out the windows she saw a deck filled with furniture, table and chairs, a grill, and potted plants.

Next she saw the pink wall that looked like it had been blotted on using a sponge.

That had her going up the stairs and found a small bedroom, bathroom, and two studies, one of which looked a lot like an office complete with a locked filing cabinet.

Back downstairs she found that the master bedroom was under one of the studies and it was lovely. It had a pair of double doors that were presently open. It was all white as was the linen and comforter. She saw an open door on the far wall and went inside. This was where she found the bathroom and two closets that were walk-ins.

Both closets were full of clothes, shoes and purses. She was so envious of all the shoes.

The bathroom had two different countertops separated from each other and they were large. The doors looked like marble as did the countertops. There was a short wall that was one of the closets and it was all mirrors with two windows and another mirror on the wall.

Then there were these two little fat guys that reminded her of cookie jars sitting on the counter.

There were dark gray towels hanging on the wall; the shower was huge and all white tiles.

Going back to the dining room she looked around. "Where's the car and her craft room?" She was missing something. However, she did find a door next to the living room that she hadn't tried yet.

This door took her into a mud room that had a large closet and a set of stairs going down. At the bottom she found a door that was locked and a security panel. Unlocking it she opened the door and stepped out. The first thing she saw was a car.

Not just any car, either. It was a seriously expensive-looking sports car. It was silver and looked very much like a Lamborghini, save that after walking around it she couldn't find any badging for a Lamborghini.

She did see the TR6, though. It looked like each of them had their own garage door. She also saw space behind the TR6 for her Harley.

She guessed which garage door opener was which, pressed, and got the right one.

After putting her bike inside and lowering the garage door, she went back up the stairs.

Since she was living out of her bag she didn't use either of the walk-in closets. She stripped off her leathers in the master bedroom and changed into something she had brought.

"Now where's this apartment and craft room?" She opened every door she could find on each level and didn't get anywhere. She'd figured out that the main floor was actually the second floor as was the outside deck. She had even finally found the laundry area.

Going out the front door again and around the side she found another three doors on the side she'd driven down. Unlocking the first door with her key she found a closet and a short set of stairs that went down. Turning on the lights. "HOLY SHIT!" It wasn't just a craft room. It was a craft room on steroids.

Wood floors just like upstairs. White walls, white ceiling, exposed metal ductwork and exposed electrical conduit. There were two large tables in the middle. One wall had a huge board that had lots of items pinned to it. Work bench, shelves everywhere, and all of them full. A white board, a rack filled with dresses, and close by were two different sewing machines.

She even saw the coat on a mannequin that Olga had talked about. Several of the shelves boxes on them. Some of them said Christmas on the outside. She had Christmas decorations all stored down here.

Then she saw two large gun safes and wondered what the hell she needed those for.

"Craft room, my ass." This was not just some simple craft room. "So what job did she need to leave for?" She could easily make a living down here. Kate looked at those gun safes again.

Locking everything back up she went to the other side and under the deck that was above her. Far in the back she found another door and used the silver key to unlock it.

Sure enough she found a studio apartment. It was furnished and everything. Even the kitchen had everything necessary to cook. The floors were still wood but darker down here. The walls and ceiling were white and like the craft room it had exposed ductwork and exposed electrical conduit.

There was a black and white throw rug, small round dining room table with black chairs, black and white sofa, a large black lounge chair with an ottoman, and even a wicker rocker.

It was nice. Kate thought she could rent it easily so didn't understand why she wasn't. There was a bed, a standard-sized closet, and a tall shelving unit that had books and movies filling it. There was also a TV in the unit. That had her thinking. She didn't remember seeing books upstairs or even a TV. Maybe she needed to look again.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Back upstairs she was standing in the living room. That was when she noticed a second living room that had an arch on the wall that had a closet on the opposite side with stairs leading down to the cars and her bike. On this wall she finally found the TV and it was huge. There was a wood sofa with red cushions against the outside wall that was filled with windows above the sofa.

She went over to the large chair in the living room and soon found that it was a rocker recliner. Using the recliner she found that she could stare up at that ceiling without hurting her neck.

This place was amazing and it at least explained why she had asked her to house watch when she wasn't at work. It was amazing and she hadn't even been out on the deck yet.

Kate was also filled with a whole lot of questions for when she got back. Like how Olga could afford all this not to mention that car that she still didn't know what it was.


	5. Chapter 5

**Moving On**

_Chapter 5_

_It is now one week later_

Olga was dead tired and hurting. Her little job that paid well hadn't gone as planned. She found the front door locked which was a good thing and since she had given Kate the spare keys that meant she could unlock the door to her own house.

Stepping inside she found that the security system was off. Totally off. At first she thought about taking one of her weapons out and searching her own house for an intruder. However, it occurred to her that she hadn't taught Kate how to turn part of the system back on when she was inside, so she didn't and went up the stairs slowly.

Everything looked normal so she went into her bedroom and found the comforter pulled down and the sheets were in a bit of a disarray. "So she did stay here." Olga was happy about that.

She dropped her bags with the intent of emptying them later. Right now what she needed was a drink. A good stiff one to help kill the pain.

Just as she approached the kitchen she spotted Kate in her favorite chair in her favorite spot.

"Pretty, isn't it?" Olga questioned her as she entered the kitchen to get that drink.

Kate all but shot out of her chair. "You're back!" It had been eight days and a few hours. She'd been keeping track.

"Most of me," Olga admitted and more heard Kate join her than saw her as she had to bend down to a lower cabinet to get the bottle out then find a glass. Then two.

"You look like shit." Kate put her hand over her mouth. Normally her filter between her head and her mouth was better then this.

"Good, then I look like I feel." Olga poured herself a drink. "Want one? It's pretty smooth."

Kate answered her by lifting up the empty glass. She watched her pour then close the bottle and set it down on the island countertop.

"k vashemu zdorov'yu,"* Olga offered; she drank her glass dry in one swallow and sighed. It had been a week since she had had anything that tasted this good.

"Pour ta santé,"** Kate offered instead; she sipped her drink and founds that it was indeed smooth.

"You didn't tell me you spoke French." Now she was really impressed.

"I don't. I was saving that for when you got home, actually. You just beat me to it," Kate confessed.

It still made Olga smile. "I almost didn't find this place. You didn't say anything about it being a church." Kate looked up at the ceiling yet again. "This place is amazing. Makes my little apartment look like a pig pen." Okay, she was exaggerating, but not that much.

"Thanks, but it didn't look like this when I found it. It was almost a real pig pen back then. I've got some early pictures around here somewhere." She remembered where the binder was located. "My craft room… Bring the bottle." Olga took her glass.

Once outside then down into the craft room Kate stopped at one of the big tables and watched Olga search. "You said craft room. This is NOT a craft room." It was a whole lot more than that.

"I may have understated it just a bit."

"You think!" Understatement was again an understatement.

"Found it." Olga reached with the wrong arm, groaned from the pain, and slumped, holding her arm to her chest.

"I'll get it." Why was she in pain? Reaching it wasn't that hard. Kate had it down and saw Olga walking to the sofa with both glasses and the bottle.

Soon they were sitting on the sofa side by side as close as they could get just about.

With the bottle and glasses on a table and the book in Kate's lap, Olga opened it and began showing her the pictures. "This is what it looked like when I found it."

Kate didn't think it looked too bad on the outside. It needed a paint job and maybe some roof repair, but it wasn't that bad.

"Now this is what I found on the inside." Olga flipped a few pages to get past the exterior ones.

"Ouch!" Kate saw two whole pages filled with pictures of the devastated interior. About the only thing that remained were the wooden beams. It was filled with pews that were mostly broken. The walls were damaged and the entire place had been tagged by someone using spray paint.

"About the only thing that wasn't touched, thank God, was this part." Olga turned pages until she found the one she was looking for. "The ceiling was still mostly intact."

"I love that ceiling. I've spent hours just sitting there looking at it," Kate owned up quickly and easily even if she wasn't all that religious.

"Yeah, it's what got me to buy the place. There'd also been a fire down in what is now my craft room. I bought it and hired an architect to change it into a home. Paid to have engineers develop a plan to heat and cool the place. Electrical and plumbing, everything a home needs." Kate let her flip a few more pages until she stopped.

These pictures showed workers all over the place. The place was gutted down to the studs and there were metal posts in a few places. A number of stud walls using metal studs where what Kate took to be the master bedroom were there.

Next she saw wiring hanging out all over and there was exposed ductwork. It was still a mess.

Then suddenly everything had Sheetrock® covering everything, though the floor was still a mess. There were holes in the outside walls and windows went in. Finally it was starting to look like a home. Even the flooring was in and then covered. Page by page it became a home. There was even a picture of someone putting that pink on the bedroom wall. Then one of someone putting up the orange plaster in the living room.

"What's with the apartment? It doesn't look used." Kate didn't understand that part.

"When I planned this place I thought I might need some help so I created a studio apartment I could rent out. I just never did," Olga explained. "You want to use it? It's just sitting there." She was sure Kate would make a good tenant. "I won't charge you much. It comes with free utilities."

Kate declined. "I have a place. But thanks."

Olga tried again. "Well if you change your mind. …It would help you save up some money for the future."

Kate had never really thought about having a lot of money. She had enough to get buy and splurge once in a while. It was enough. "I'll think about it." More money might some day come in useful.

"What is that car? The silver one that looks like a Lamborghini but isn't." Kate was really interesting in that car. The TR6 was nice, even if she hadn't driven it. But that car was a real beauty.

"Saw that one, did you?. I got lucky. I met someone who knew someone who was willing to sell it since he had gotten himself into some financial difficulty so I offered him a price he couldn't refuse. It's a Kode Zero. It's a one of a kind. Normally aspirated V12, weighs in at 1,550 kgs and has 700 horse power. ISR Gearbox with 7 speeds, Double wishbone fully independent suspension, Push rod magneto-rheologic active suspension with horizontal dampers and springs–" Kate interrupted her.

"You really know your cars. I've never heard of a Kode Zero. But I like it." She'd thought about searching for the keys just to see how it sounded but she never did. She wasn't that big of a snoop.

"Call it a weakness. I start her up once a week just to make sure she runs smoothly, check all the fluids, make sure the battery is still connected to the charger and that's about it. I don't dare drive it around the Bronx. The roads are far too rough around here," Olga told her.

"So that's what that wire is." She had seen the wire and saw it ended with a box that was plugged into a wall receptacle.

"I need to fire it up since I've been gone. …You want to do the honors?" Olga was willing to let her sit in it and start her up.

Kate snapped her head around to look at Olga and her face was all lit up. "More than anything."

"I'll find the keys, meet me at the garage." Olga got up and groaned since it aggravated her injury a little.

"You're hurt." Kate was genuinely concerned.

"I'm fine. Grab the bottle and glasses and leave them in the kitchen." Olga walked outside then closed and locked the door behind Kate.

They met at the car. Olga pressed the button to open the garage door to let the fumes of it running out and handed Kate the keys.

After unlocking the car door using the key she wasn't sure what to do next. Olga gave her a clue. "Press your fingers in then lift."

Kate pushed her fingers into what looked like a closed slot and found that they went in easily enough. She felt a latch inside so she lifted and the door lifted, starting up on a hinge. "NO WAY!" This door was way cool.

The interior was all black so she carefully sat down and found that doing that was going to take some practice to get it right and do it with ease.

It looked simple enough. Make sure it was in neutral, put her foot on the clutch and…not turn the key? "Push the red button marked start," Olga called out. Kate looked until she found it. So she pressed it and it fired right up.

It soon settled down to a low rumble, then Kate applied some power and the roar got louder.

"Gun her a few times. Get the cobwebs out," Olga said loudly so Kate did just that with both hands on the wheel and the door still up. As she did so she looked around. Everything was lit up with a bit of a silvery blue glow to it. Environmentals, gauges, everything.

Kate stopped and just let it purr a satisfying sound. "You're down to half a tank of gas," Kate pointed out.

"Pop the engine hood release for me," Olga asked her. Kate looked under the dash for it until she found it and the hood release so she did both then got out of the car with it still running.

Looking at the engine she saw the V12 took up just about every spare inch of space. Then watched Olga check the oil level using a blue rag she had in hand. "You can kill it for me."

Kate got back in, pressed start/stop and listened to it just stop. Then suddenly everything was quiet again. The engine hood got slammed closed. That left just the front hood.

Kate soon saw that if she was careful her overnight bag she had been using to stay here with just might fit. "I take it driving this to Disney World is out."

Olga laughed. "Not unless we want to live in bikinis 24 hours a day."

"For this car, I'll survive." Kate was almost thinking of doing just that.

"You paying for the speeding tickets, too?" They were sure to get a few along the way.

"What tickets? I'm a cop." Kate wasn't sure that would work all the time, but it might some of the time and it might be worth it.

"I knew there was a reason why I liked you. I think I would rather fly, thank you." Olga declined for now.

"Still, it might be fun," Kate said, pretty sure it was never going to happen.

"In that case I'll let you do all the planning. I'm going to go take a shower. I'm dirty." Olga closed the garage door and left Kate staring at the Kode Zero.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Olga was just sitting on the edge of the bed since she knew this was going to hurt. Kate didn't hear the shower so she peeked into the bedroom and saw her sitting there.

"What's wrong?" She still looked like shit or maybe even worse. Then she remembered she'd shown she had some pain. "What did you do?" Kate had no idea what the job had been but if it caused this it wasn't worth it.

"Nothing, I'll be fine," Olga insisted.

"Take your top off and show me and tell me where your first aid kit is." Kate was betting she was going to need one.

"Kate." Olga liked her but she was asking for too much. Only when she looked up at her all Kate was doing was glaring at her and waiting with her hands on her hips.

"Bathroom, second cabinet on the left." Olga knew that this was a really bad idea. A really bad idea.

Kate found it and was surprised at just how big it was. It wasn't just a first aid kit. It was a first responder backpack that had barely fit in that cabinet.

However when she got back Olga hadn't moved. "Shirt-off-now." Kate unzipped the backpack and set it on the floor. "Fine, I'll do it." Kate was really hoping that she was wearing a bra this time. Several of the dresses she had seen her in she'd done without.

Olga resigned herself to letting Kate undress her. In a different set of circumstances she would actually be helping her or helping Kate take off her top, but not this time.

Kate was guessing the right side since she hadn't been able to reach for the photo binder of the house slash church so she pulled that side down. She instantly found two things. Well, make that three things.

First she wasn't wearing a bra and second and third she had a dressing on the front of her right shoulder and another on the back. It was all taped up and there was a red spot on each.

"What have you done to yourself?" Kate got to work on taking the tape off and kept saying sorry each time Olga flinched.

She had just enough tape off to have a peek. What she saw shocked her. "This is a gun shot wound." She had seen enough of them to know. She even had one of her own. Now she looked at the back bandage but didn't touch it. "It's a through and through. You've been shot!" Kate hadn't been expecting that.

"What happened?" Kate really wanted to know. She was beginning to really like her and she wanted to know. "Olga, what happened?" She was taking too long to answer.

"I can't tell you. Just take it off so I can take a shower, please." Olga really couldn't tell her.

"Why not? I'm a homicide detective. I can find out who shot you." Kate would find out, she had resources at her disposal.

"You can't, you won't." Olga knew she couldn't and wouldn't learn anything.

Kate pressed her. "Why not? …Olga, why not?"

"BECAUSE!" Olga yelled then slumped in defeat. "Because you don't have the security clearance to find out." And unless something really big happened, she was never going to have the clearance to find out.

"Security clearance? What kind of security clearance? Please tell me you're not a spy." Suddenly Kate's heart hurt. She didn't understand just why but it did.

Olga told her the truth. "No, I'm not a spy. Nothing like that."

"Then what? This place must have cost you a fortune to fix up and that car had to have cost you a million or more. Olga, what's going on? Why am I even here?" They had only met a few times during morning coffee.

"**BECAUSE I LIKE YOU, OKAY?!**"Olga yelled and that caused a little pain in her shoulder. Then she curled in on herself in utter defeat. "Because I like you."

Now Kate's heart hurt even worse. Only it was a different kind of hurt. Neither were physical in nature but it still hurt.

"So what _can_ you tell me?" Kate had to learn something. She couldn't stay if she couldn't learn something.

"Not much, actually. Just take off the bandages and let me take a shower," Olga said wearily.

Kate saw the hole on each side and cringed at the sight of it. "I need a drink." Kate needed something to calm her nerves.

"Good thinking. If you like you can re-dress the wounds when I'm done. Or you can just leave." Olga left it up to her.

"I'll be here. I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on." Kate left her to finish stripping and take a shower.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate had had two drinks and was now back in the bedroom with Olga sitting on the bed dressed in shorts and a man's dress shirt that had come from somewhere. Kate could also tell that she wasn't wearing a bra again and handed her one of the glasses. "To kill the pain." Kate watched her drink it all and set the now empty glass on the bed.

Kate was still dressing the bullet wound in the front. "Okay, start talking. Tell me what you can tell me." She would talk her into telling her everything later if she stayed around for that long.

Olga sighed. "I don't work for the CIA, or MI6 or 5, or whatever it's called. Or KGB or what's left of it, or Mossad, or any other spy organization. I'm French, remember," Olga tried to assure her. "However, that doesn't mean I don't take cases from one, or two, or three of them."Olga paused and hissed when Kate started to clean the wound on her back.

"Countries have a nasty tendency to get themselves into trouble. Someone has stolen something, for example, and it would be really bad if word got out that their security was actually that bad. Or someone has killed someone important and they don't want people getting the wrong idea."

"Secrets," Kate offered.

"Pretty much. For example, in your world as a homicide detective, it's pretty black and white. He or she is guilty and that's the end of it. They get arrested, tried, and if convicted go to prison. Maybe for life if they don't get out on parole.

"In my world things are a lot more gray. Someone may have killed someone, or stolen something, or more likely sacrificed someone to achieve something. It happens more often than you would ever believe." Olga kept trying to explain. "It can sometimes feel like you're selling a piece of yourself to keep that secret. For some people it begins to add up and becomes too much for them. Secrets can be costly for anyone that touches them."

"More secrets," Kate said.

"There are more secrets out there than you or I could ever possibly imagine. What's worse is that every country has people that only know a tiny fraction of those secrets. Literally no one knows them all. I'm pretty sure if someone did it would drive them mad." Olga tried to think of something without getting her or Kate into trouble. "Or worse, give them a God complex."

"Think about it. During World War two, the United States developed the bomb and tried to keep it secret."

"The Manhattan Project." Kate was following her.

"Weapon projects are always kept a secret. Secret Air Bases that don't exist"

Kate nodded. "Area 51."

"The United States isn't the only nation that has these secrets and all the other countries want those secrets no matter who has them. So if a scientist decided to try and get rich by selling something…" Olga shrugged her left shoulder.

"That country would have tried to stop them. Is that what you did?" Maybe she was trying to tell her something.

"I can't tell you that. I may never be able to tell you that. I'm really sorry. It's for your protection and mine." Olga tried to get her to understand.

"Or they'll send someone to kill both of us because they'll think you or I have become a liability. A traitor," Kate said as Olga nodded. It was a sobering thought. Olga really was trying to protect her yet tell her something. "You got shot. It had better have been worth it."

"I don't know if it was worth it to them, but for me it was worth 1.15 million US dollars. In an offshore bank account," Olga told her.

"1.15 million dollars? For eight days of work?" Okay, maybe that was worth it. "Just how many times have you been shot. Do I need to strip you and search for more wounds?" Kate was teasing.

"How many times have you been shot in the line of duty?" Olga countered. She did in a way wonder if or when they would ever be ready for Kate to strip her naked. She had another secret.

"Once and no, I'm not going to show you where." Not today, anyway. Kate watched her hold up two fingers. "Twice! You need a new line of work." This one was turning out to be dangerous.

"How do you think I afforded this place and that car?" Olga said.

"Not sure it's worth your life," Kate argued.

"And what you do for a living is? I work in the gray areas of governments. You work in the black and white of yours. Is what we both do so different? Mine simply pays better." Though it did come with more risks. But she was well trained.

"And filled with secrets?" Kate countered.

"And can you tell me everything about the case you are presently working on?" Olga asked her and saw the word _No _ written on her face. Not that Olga knew if she was presently in the middle of a murder case or not. She had simply assumed she was.

"All done." Kate was done patching her back up.

"Thanks. I might have managed but it would have been harder and hurt more. I owe you one." Olga would find a way to pay her back. "Can I ask you something?"

"Fire away," Kate answered then realized what she'd just said and saw Olga grinning at her which made her smile.

"I know why I asked you to stay here and we've had coffee a few times. You've seen me half naked. …Almost." Not really sure if Kate had looked down the top of her dress either of those times or if she had gotten a peek earlier.

"I have a terrible memory." Kate smiled at her since she remembered everything and saw Olga grin back at her.

"If I asked you out on a date, not a girlfriend going out with her girlfriend date, I mean a nice romantic date, would you come?" Olga got to the point of why she had asked Kate to stay and watch her house. And why she'd told her what she could without either of them getting into trouble.

"A date?" Kate asked and suddenly her heart showed her something. It was a tiny little card that said _"I told you so."_

Her mind couldn't stop her. "I'd love to. …But you're buying. You make far more money than I do." That made Olga laugh. It also caused her to cringe from the pain in her shoulder. She raised her arm up slightly and tried to ease the pain. Olga took hold of Kate's shoulder and kissed both of her cheeks. And not one of those fake kisses, either. Kate felt her lips on each cheek.

Kate almost wished it had been a real kiss on the lips. But that could wait until after their date.

"And what was that thing hiding behind my baby?" Olga demanded which had Kate smiling really wide. Olga had spotted her 94 Harley Softail®.

Translations via Google Translate

*To your health.

**For your health.


	6. Chapter 6

**Moving On**

_Chapter 6_

_It is now one week later_

Kate finally had two days off. Technically she had one day off and the second she was on call in case the precinct got more than it could handle. Amazingly she was actually hoping for both days and was looking forward to this date. Naturally she hadn't told Lanie a thing. For all she knew Lanie didn't even know she'd spent those eight days house sitting.

Olga had told her to get dressed up but not too formal. She just needed to look nice. To look nice but not to formal Kate chose her red dress that had a bare shoulder. The other arm had a fitted sleeve down to her elbow. It was drawn and tied at her waist and reached to her knees. She was just slipping on her red shoes. She took off her dad's watch and slid on a wide bronze bracelet and made sure she had what she wanted in her little silver clutch.

Since they were meeting each other there Kate had the address and took a taxi. Instead of going inside she stood outside under the door canopy telling you where you were and waited for Olga.

Olga was walking down the sidewalk toward her wearing what looked like a pant suit. It was light purple and she was wearing a red belt that was more of a sash maybe since there were two cords hanging at her waist. The coat wasn't pulled very tight and Kate had no trouble figuring out that she was apt to do, she wasn't wearing a bra. It gave the impression that if you pulled on even one of those cords the jacket would fall open revealing everything.

It was subtle, not formal, and really damn sexy looking. She was even wearing red high heel shoes. With every step her coat opened a little to display a hint of breast.

"You look gorgeous." Olga looked her over and was smiling, pleased that she had actually shown up. Truth be told she was scared that she wouldn't.

"So do you. It almost looks Chinese." It reminded her of that look save that that it wasn't elaborate enough.

"You didn't have to wait, you could have gotten us a table. I would have found you." She would have been the loveliest women in the restaurant.

"I decided to wait." Olga opened the door and let Kate go first.

**La Grenouille**

Kate saw red floors, red bench seating against the walls, wooden chairs all with white linen, mirrors and paintings on the walls, and an enormous mirror on the ceiling. There were also fresh roses almost everywhere. She could even smell them.

"I hope you like French food," Olga said as they waited for their table. "You can choose next time."

They were given a small table along the wall. Kate took the bench with its red background making her almost disappear.

"Maybe Russian next time," Kate said since she would willingly go on another date.

"We can leave if you don't like it." They could find her Russian restaurant now. Olga didn't take offense.

"No, no. French is fine. I guess I'm just not used to such flare." It was a little too fancy. Maybe a simple bistro would have been better.

"I'll remember that." Olga filed that information away for later use.

Olga chose a wine from the list for them in a glass, not a bottle.

"So tell me about your parents?" Olga was curious.

"Mom and Dad were lawyers when I was growing up. I decided I wanted to be a lawyer as well and took pre-law classes at Stanford." Kate started there.

"Stanford. Sounds prestigious. Located on the west coast of the States, is it not?" Olga questioned.

Kate nodded. "San Francisco, to be precise."

"Earthquakes." Olga really didn't like them.

"I never experienced one and San Francisco is pretty though like most cities it has its ugly parts," Kate admitted.

"Then Mom was murdered. I quit Stanford and entered the NYPD Academy instead."

"That's terrible! I'm so sorry. Did they catch who did it?" She had contacts, maybe she could help if they didn't.

Kate shook her head. "The police called it a random act of gang violence."

Olga heard it in her voice. She didn't believe what she'd been told. Now she _knew_ she was going to help.

"Dad's still a lawyer. We speak and get together for something roughly every week, more or less." They didn't talk all that often but Kate tried to stay close. "What about your parents?"

They were both interrupted when their server came to their table to get their orders.

"You trust me?" Olga asked her and watched her nod.

"We'll take two orders of L' Assiette Fraîcheur au Crabe, Huîtres au Caviar Et Sake," Olga handed the server her menu as Kate did the same.

"I caught part of that. Something about crab?" Kate asked.

"I forgot to ask if you have any allergies." Olga feared she might have just made a big mistake.

Kate simply smiled. "I like crab just fine. There was something about caviar as well." Now that she was looking forward to.

"Very good," Olga nodded. "Siberian caviar to be precise."

"I approve." She was sitting in a French restaurant and about to eat Russian caviar. She was happy.

"My parents. They still live in Montreal. They're actually in their second home since moving there. Mom is a real estate agent so if you ever decide to move to Montreal let me know. I can get her to steer you in the right direction," Olga offered.

"I was born in New York City and I've lived my whole life here. Save for that short time at Stanford. I have no plans to move," Kate told her.

"Never say never," Olga cautioned. "The perfect apartment in Paris with a view the perfect view of the Eiffel Tower might get you to change your mind."

"On my salary it'll be the size of a closet and half of that will be the bathroom," Kate joked with her and watched Olga laugh. She looked good when she laughed.

"There is that," Olga agreed since prices were astronomical in Paris.

"Besides I don't know French law and I'm not going back into a patrol car." Paris was out so far as she was concerned.

"You could always join me in what I do," Olga offered. "You must be well trained."

"I still don't know just what you do," Kate replied.

"And you won't unless you join me and get a security clearance. I'll split it with you 50-50." Olga offered.

Kate was saved when their server arrived to ask if they wanted another glass of wine.

"Yes, please," Kate answered quickly. She was going to need something in her before she even thought about it.

"Yes, please." Olga added her desire for another one as well.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

What Olga had ordered turned out to be Chilled Assortment of Jumbo Lump Crabmeat, Oysters with Imported Siberian Caviar, and shots of Chilled Sake.

Olga wasn't surprised when Kate had the caviar gone in seconds. That told her where they could go next time if it was her choice or even Kate's assuming she could talk Kate into letting her buy.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"I parked in a garage this time. Let me give you a ride home." Olga dangled a carrot in front of her. "I'll let you drive."

"Sold! Which car did you bring?" Kate teased since she knew it would be the TR6. Olga laughed again.

They'd just made into the parking garage. "You ladies got a light?" a male-sounding voice called out.

"Nah, I think they're looking for a good time," another one chimed in.

Both Kate and Olga turned to see three males, two black and one white. One of them was clearly overweight. Neither of them knew just who had spoken.

"I'm a cop, you three should just go away while you still can," Kate warned them.

"Ooo, this one thinks she's a cop. I've never had cop before," one of the skinny ones pointed out.

The other skinny one – the white male – flipped and flipped and soon had a blade in his hand. "Just get on your hands and knees." He was followed by the other skinny one doing the same thing.

Kate wasn't sure why they didn't have guns. But then fucking a corpse might not be their kind of fun.

"No thanks," Olga said and Kate saw her step toward one of them and before she almost had time to think about helping her, all three of them were on the concrete.

Two were clearly unconscious while the other was moaning loudly with what looked like a compound fracture of his right leg.

Both of them were standing over the three thugs. "Oops." Olga adjusted her jacket since it was mostly open and exposed everything. It was Kate's first time to actually see both of her breasts up close.

"I suppose we have to call the police for this," Olga sighed.

"I'm afraid so." Kate looked down at these idiots. "And where did you learn to do that?" Kate was sure she could take them but someone might get cut. "Don't tell me, you can't tell me." Kate got out her cell phone to call it in. "And we're looking at your shoulder when we get home," Kate informed her. She missed seeing Olga smile at the word _home_ for both of them.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Beckett, what are you doing here? It's your day off." Montgomery didn't want her working too hard and burning herself out.

"We had an incident, sir, and this is as good a place as any to fill out our incident reports," Kate explained.

"Olga Shishkov. It's a pleasure to meet you." Olga held out her hand to shake his.

Kate told him some more. "She's a friend; we had a problem getting to her car in a parking garage."

Olga continued where Kate left off. "We had three young men with knives suggest that they could give us a good time."

"Well it looks like you two are fine. Finish your report and get out of here. It's your day off." Roy nodded and went into his office.

"Nice guy." Olga was speaking rhetorically since he sounded anything but nice.

"Captain Montgomery is a nice guy. He's just serious about me not being in the office too long. We need to finish and leave before he reminds me again." Kate got back to writing up her report and since Olga wasn't used to doing this she had to wait for her to finish her report.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"So what else is in this building?" Olga was curious.

"Different divisions. Robbery, Vice, Gangs, and the first floor that stops everyone. Oh, and there are showers and a workout room upstairs," Kate said as they waited for the elevator.

"Workout room. Can I use it? I could teach you a thing or two. Maybe kick your ass?" Olga teased.

"Bring it on. I'll make arrangements." She may have been slow with those three but she wasn't weak or backing down from a challenge.

They were going down in the elevator. "So much for my romantic dinner." Three screwballs had ruined it and the evening was over.

"It's only 10:16," Kate pointed out as she looked at her dad's watch. "And I have tomorrow off."

"Midnight movie?" Olga suggested. "I can drop you off at home to change and then come back and get you."

"Why are we changing clothes?" Kate asked her and grinned. They would just be overdressed for a movie.

"We need someplace to kill an hour and a half." If they didn't spend it changing clothes they needed to do something else.

"There has to be a bar in the area. The things are literally everywhere," Kate said.

Olga took out her keys. "You're driving." She was betting Kate knew the area better.

Kate beamed as she snatched the keys from her hand. It was about time she got behind the wheel of this wolf in sheep's clothing.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate found a place to park and gave Olga her keys back. "I like her." Kate didn't get to do much but she did get to punch a few times. "Back that way. I think I remember seeing something." She gestured behind them and they started walking.

"There!" Kate saw the word _Saloon._ "3 Sheets Saloon." She'd never heard of it but it was a bar and they still had an hour to kill.

There was a copper topped bar, stools filled with people at the front windows, and a rooftop seating area. They chose the roof and found a place to sit down. Next came the next challenge. This place only had beer and they had a lot of choices.

They were also given a menu. They'd eaten already but it was fun to read.

Kate looked for the weirdest thing she could find on the menu. "Cottage fries smothered in cheese whiz, gravy, and bacon."

"I think I feel my arteries hardening already. What is it with you Americans and stupid stuff to eat?" Olga didn't understand.

"Wait until you see New York State Fair food. They deep fat fry literally everything. Deep fried Twinkies, Deep fried scorpions, deep fried pickles, Kool-Aid pickles, Deep fried Jell-O–" Olga interrupted her.

"Stop, I won't be able to drink my beer when it finally shows up." Olga had heard enough and Kate burst into laughter. "I am so taking you to the next State Fair." Kate was still laughing at her.

"You just want to watch me hurl all over your shirt." Olga stuck her tongue out at her.

Kate was saved when their beers showed up.

"So how long have you lived in the States and why did you come here?" Kate inquired. Montreal was a perfectly good city to live in. So why move here?

"I've lived here about six years, I think. As for why here, you forget what I do. The airports here can take me anywhere I need to go." For Olga it was where and the ease of getting around.

"Do your parents know what you do? …Never mind." Kate waved her off. If she couldn't tell her she couldn't tell them.

"So how often do you get these jobs?" Just how busy was she?

"Roughly every three months," Olga answered.

"We get into that much trouble?" That sounded like a lot. A whole lot to her way of thinking.

"I don't work for just you. And no, I don't work for them. I'm French, remember." Olga drank some of her Massive pale ale by Land-Grant Brewing Company.

"You mean Canadian, don't you?" She grew up in Montreal. Kate drank some of her Pocket Watch fruit ale by Urban Artifact.

"True, but then I was born in Paris. You're sure you don't want to move to Paris?" Olga asked her again.

Kate shook her head. "My French sucks. If you want to live there why do you live here? Paris has a good airport." Not that she wasn't glad she was here.

"Too far from my parents. They're not that far to drive to let alone fly," Olga shrugged.

Kate was satisfied with that. She could understand not wanting to be too far away from her dad. They'd been through a lot.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

They had arrived at the theater to see what was showing. "ROBOCOP?" Kate looked at Olga to see if that was good with her.

"It'll do." At least it had some action in it so it might be fun to watch again. If nothing else they could insult it for how stupid it was.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Is that proper technique?" Olga asked Kate just as everything went to hell.

"Apparently not," Kate replied.

"Ooo!" Olga commented as they watched.

"More like ouch." Kate scrunched up her face.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Dick. No parent should ever name their son that name. Unless they want him to get beaten up in school." Olga shook her head.

"ED-209." Kate shook her head.

"Directive 4." Olga made a face as they went to her car.

"You just wish you had a body like his," Kate teased.

"And miss out on sex? You've lost your mind!" Olga fired back which had Kate laughing again.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Unless you gave me the wrong address this is you." Olga stopped outside of Kate's building. "You said you have tomorrow off if I remember correctly."

"I do but I'm on call if they need me," Kate said.

"You know I have a spare bedroom you could use. Two actually. One comes with its own kitchen. The offer still stands," Olga reminded her.

"If I get a call I would need to leave fast." Kate saw that as a problem.

"Bring that thing you call a bike," Olga suggested.

"It's a Harley. I worked long and hard to afford her." Kate suddenly smiled wide. "Gave my parents a heart attack." She smiled as she remembered her butt being removed.

Olga repeated her offer. "Your choice. You're welcome to come stay with me."

"I'll think about it." Kate got out and watched as she drove away.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Olga was about ready to give up waiting to see if Kate was going to show up and go to bed when she heard a loud noise being revved over and over again.

That had her running to the garage and pressing the button for the door her baby always used and watched as Kate rode her bike into the garage and killed it. She lowered the kickstand and got off.

Kate was taking off her helmet as Olga came toward her. "Changed your mind, I see." Olga was ecstatic and what she wanted to do was kiss her for it, but it was too soon for that.

"I don't usually do things like this." Actually she hadn't done anything even close to this in a long time.

"Well, I'm glad you did. And you didn't wear those tight leathers this time." Olga loved her in those. They were almost painted on.

"I plan on going into work from here so I couldn't. I wouldn't have anywhere to put them so I risked it." Her leathers were meant to save her skin if some idiot forced her to lay her bike down. So she'd been extra careful in getting here.

"If it rains you can leave your bike here and I can drive you. Then come get you when you're ready," Olga offered.

The garage door closed behind them and Olga reset the alarm. Once upstairs Olga handed Kate two keys. "Sleep where you want. You know where all the beds are. The kitchen downstairs doesn't have any food just so you know. Or coffee. It's late so I'm going to bed." Olga kissed both of her cheeks and headed off to her bathroom to strip and get ready for bed.

That left Kate with a choice. Apartment or upstairs? Only for a fraction of a second did she consider joining Olga in her bed.

Kate ended up upstairs and was just putting on her t-shirt to sleep in when she looked out the door and remembered that big bed downstairs. It was big enough. They could share. Instead she pulled the comforter back, then the sheets, turned out the light, and got into bed.

Except her mind wouldn't shut down. Only this time it wasn't a case or her mother. It was one night back in college and it had her tossing and turning.

Olga finally let sleep take her after deciding that Kate wasn't going to join her.


	7. Chapter 7

**Moving On**

_Chapter 7_

Kate had spent her second day off with Olga at her place. They didn't have plans to go anywhere. However, that didn't mean they did nothing all day.

Olga had her down in her craft room and she had stood there while Olga got all of her measurements. And boy did she mean all of them. Her neck, arm length, waist, chest, hips, and from her crotch down to her feet.

"You need these why?" Not that Kate cared. She had gone through something just like this more than once in her life.

"I'm going to make you something. If you don't like it when I'm done I can maybe sell it to one of the designers and make a little something," Olga explained.

"You don't have to do that." She definitely didn't have to make her anything.

"It's not just for you. I need something to keep me busy between jobs. And thank you for changing my bandages again. You didn't have to do that." Olga was transferring her measurements onto something she could use.

"I didn't mind. Besides how did you plan to reach the one on your back?" Kate asked her.

"With difficulty." Olga grinned at her.

Olga kept an eye on her as she worked and watched her look through her older dresses that didn't get bought by anyone. "See anything you like?"

Kate had gone through them rather quickly. "No offense, but no." She didn't see anything that caught her eye.

"Neither did anyone else. That's why they're there. I haven't decided what to do with them yet." No one was ever going to wear them but maybe she could take them apart and use the cloth again for something.

Then she watched Kate wander around and literally look everything over.

"This is a lot of Christmas." This time Kate counted the boxes that had the word Christmas on them.

"I decorate for Christmas if I happen to be here. Lights outside for the church. A fair amount of fake garland. Lots and lots of ornaments for the tree. Still more lights for inside. Even a few village buildings that have their own lights. There's even a cheap Christmas train in there somewhere. It runs on batteries instead of electricity. A couple of nutcrackers if I remember right and some other minor stuff. I have a lot of ceiling space but a small car so I need to call in a favor to get the biggest tree I can. I need a ladder to fill it with ornaments," Olga chuckled.

"What do you do for Christmas?" Christmas was still months away since it was still warm outside.

"Nothing." Kate decided she needed to explain. "Mom was killed a little before Christmas. It was still early for Christmas but we had all our decorations out already. Now it's just reminds my dad and me that Mom's dead. So we do nothing." Christmas wasn't anything special any longer.

Suddenly she felt Olga hugging her from behind. "I'm sorry. I either spend it with my parents in Montreal or they come here. We've been alternating lately. If we keep it up they'll come here this year. …Can I talk you into joining us?" Olga was hoping they were still seeing each other by then.

"I can't. I always work during Christmas. Since I don't celebrate it I offer to work so others can be home with their families." Kate didn't think that was going to change any time soon.

"Suffering yet still sweet and caring for others. You're amazing." Kate felt her kiss her head then let go of her. Part of her missed her arms and her head dismissed the feeling.

"I've got what I need. This will take me a few weeks given my speed. Did you bring something to exercise in?" Olga had an idea for something they could do.

"I brought something I can do my yoga in. Will that work? What have you got in mind?" Kate turned to look at her and she was smiling. Only this time it looked like more of an evil smile.

"Good. Go change into it while I change into mine. I want to see what you've got." Olga headed for the door.

Kate didn't know why but her mind instantly went into the gutter. But what did being dressed for yoga have to do with sex? Kate shook her head to clear her thoughts, followed her out the door, and used her own key to lock the door.

Kate saw Olga at the bottom of the stairs waiting for her. "Did we shop at the same place?" Olga called up. Kate giggled a little. They were dressed almost exactly alike. Black tights, black pullover. And while Olga had black tennis shoes, hers were white. "Towel?" Olga asked her and held out a spare one for her to use.

Kate had to move her bike then put it in even deeper into the garage before joining her in the TR6. "Where are we going?"

"To find out what you've got," Olga stated yet again. Kate didn't get it but she watched where they were going.

"A gym." Kate turned to look at her as Olga parallel parked. She meant workout to see what she had. Kate smiled. Maybe she was going to get to see just what Olga had after getting a quick demonstration on those three idiots earlier that screwed up their romantic date.

Kate let someone she didn't know wrap her hands while Olga was doing the same. They were already barefoot when they stepped out onto the mat.

"Ready?" Olga asked her after they'd spent the last 15 minutes getting limber and loose. Kate had already let her mouth fall open as she'd watched Olga stretching.

Olga hadn't just stretched to get limber like Kate had done. She'd used the wall to help her stretch first one leg up against the wall until finally her foot was behind her head. Then she'd done it with the other leg. Kate wasn't even sure she could even do a split on the floor let alone what Olga had just done.

"Prepare to kiss the mat," Kate told her and watched Olga smile back at her.

They circled each other at first until Kate decided on a feint and a fake jab. What felt like a second later or less she was on her back on the mat. She watched Olga bouncing away on the balls of her feet.

"Okay," Kate told herself. It was time to take the gloves off and not take it easy on her.

However, Kate didn't know how she had gotten there but she was on her back yet again and watching Olga bouncing on the balls of her feet yet again.

So far Kate was sticking to using just her hands and she had ended up on her back. So this time she was going to use her legs and kick her.

This time Kate was bouncing away on the balls of her feet with Olga on her back.

Olga was grinning as she got up. Kate had finally shown her something and advanced to using her legs. Well, two could do that.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate was on her back yet again with Olga standing over her. "Ready to admit defeat yet?" Olga had only hit the mat just once. She'd lost track of the number of times Kate had landed on her back.

"No!" Kate got slowly to her feet and only then noticed that they'd drawn an audience.

Kate blocked one of Olga's moves that she'd seen more than once. Only she was down on the mat with one leg that way and the other leg the opposite direction. Then suddenly she was on her back with a thud.

Now they were both on the mat. "That's cheating," Kate decided. She couldn't begin to get her legs to do that.

"All's fair in love and war," Olga said smugly and they both just stayed right where they were.

Kate was tired, sore, and sweaty. Olga didn't look all that tired. She was sweaty at least but since she had only hit the mat once, Kate was betting her body wasn't sore.

"Had enough?" Olga was betting she was hurting a little by now.

"Yeah. …For today, but I want a rematch. After I get in some more practice." She was going to need a lot of practice it was looking like.

"I'll be ready when you are." Olga got up and offered Kate a hand up that Kate gratefully accepted.

"How did you do that?" Kate was tired and sore but standing on her own legs.

"You can't bend your legs?" They were going to have to work on that if she couldn't.

"Not that far." Thanks to her yoga she thought she was pretty limber. That was until she met Olga.

"When I was little I wanted to be a ballerina. Mom even let me take a few classes. I found out it was a lot more work than I was ready for at that age. Still it did show me that if I kept up with at least the exercises I could bend in ways all the other girls later in life couldn't," Olga explained. "It also helps in my jobs I take," Olga whispered to her.

With wet towels over their necks they were soon driving back to her place.

"Shower," Olga announced and went to hers while Kate wondered just what to do. Part of her was telling her to follow her. But another part said if she did it was going to lead to sex that that part of her wasn't ready for. There was another bathroom that had a shower on this level so she went that way. Until she worked out that she needed something to change into first so up the stairs she went. One step at a time and then back down one step at a time.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate came out wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt with her bra on. When she did she saw Olga standing just outside of her bedroom dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, only once again she wasn't wearing a bra. She was also using a finger to beckon her closer.

"On the bed on your stomach," Olga said and while her heart was pounding out that this might lead to something a lot more intense and passionate, Kate did as she was told.

Then suddenly Olga's hands were working on her shoulders that had taken part of that beating she had endured hitting the mat over and over.

It took a few minutes but Kate was eventually moaning from the feeling. "You learn to do this when you were little, too?" Kate didn't want her to stop. She listened to Olga laugh. "Definitely not."

Olga thought she was done since her shoulders could now be molded with ease. "You're done." Olga got up and slapped her ass which got a yelp out of Kate who turned to watch her leave her bedroom. "I'm hungry," Olga announced. She had used up a lot of energy showing Kate just what she could do.

Kate finally caught up to her in the kitchen and watched her put something in the microwave. "Chop those, please. We're having fajitas," Olga said.

"I do know how to cook, you know." Kate moved around, found a knife, and started cutting what was on the cutting board. But it was still partly frozen so she ran them under the water at the sink first.

"You can cook next time. Maybe you can cook better than you can fight," Olga teased her.

Kate turned to glare daggers at her as Olga just stood there watching her. "You're cute when you're mad," Olga declared then Kate watched her walk up to her. Her lips were getting closer and closer until she kissed her. It didn't last long and Kate was taken a little by surprise so she hadn't kissed her back.

Kate's mind went back to what her mind had been stuck on last night before she had finally gone to sleep and knew she looked surprised but also probably something else.

"Still cute. …Cut, I'm hungry," Olga said again and got a heavy skillet ready to cook in.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

They were sitting at her little table eating. Kate thought it was actually pretty good.

"You've never kissed a girl before?" Kate was still here so she hadn't pushed her too far.

"No… A man, yes. But it's been a while," Kate told her.

"Care to share with the class?" Olga asked her.

"Maybe another day." Kate didn't think either of them were ready for that yet. Wait, yet? What did she mean by _yet_ ?

"I look forward to it." Olga was dying to hear all about that day and what had happened. She hadn't kissed her back but she hadn't told her to never do that again nor had she left.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate had brought clothes for work in case they had called her in, though they hadn't. Still she had decided to go home tonight and sleep at home before going into work tomorrow.

She had pushed her bike out onto the driveway and was putting her bag over her back with her helmet sitting on her bike.

"I'm really glad you came. I've enjoyed your company very much." Olga stepped up to her.

"So did I. We'll have to do that again soon," Kate said. Olga slowly embraced then she was kissing her. This time Kate saw it coming. She was ready for her and was kissing her back. The kiss got more passionate as tongues got involved. Kate was holding her close and kissing her back and was now searching her mouth. Breaking from the kiss only got both of them kissing yet again.

The passionate kissing had slowed down to little kisses. "Call me. I'm not going anywhere until my shoulder's healed." Even if she got a job offer she would be forced to decline it. "Maybe we can finally succeed at completing a romantic date."

Kate felt her heart pounding and yes, she was scared. "I'd like that. I'll let you know when I have another pair of days off." This time Kate kissed her before letting go of her so she could put her helmet on.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate was at work and answered her ringing phone. "Beckett."

"This is John Raglan. I was lead investigator on your mother's homicide 12 years ago."

"I remember you, Detective Raglan." Kate felt her heartbeat pick up a notch.

"Listen I… We need to talk about your mother's case. There's something you don't know. There's a coffee shop at 4th and Main. Meet me there in an hour. Just you. No cops." Then he hung up on her.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Olga picked up her ringing phone. "Olga." Kate really didn't know just what to say. This was her mother's case and that always hit really close to her heart.

"Hi, Kate." Except the tone of her voice said something. "What's wrong?" Olga listened to what she was sure was a scared Kate Beckett talk to her. "Where are you?"

"Precinct. I've got…45 minutes." Kate looked at her watch. She had waited or wasted 15 minutes before calling Olga.

"Don't move. I'm coming." Olga hung up on her and ran out the front door. She flew down to her craft room where she spun the combination she knew well and took out a weapon along with two spare clips. While she debated for second if she should, she grabbed a silencer and took that with her as well.

She locked the door behind her and went back inside where she locked the front door and ran to the garage. She pressed the button to open it, hopped in and fired up her baby. She put it in reverse and laid rubber all over her garage floor that she would have to clean up later. Pressing the button to close the garage, she stepped on it, leaving more rubber behind.

It was time to find out just what her baby could really do with all of her modifications.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Olga wasn't bashful. She pulled into the underground parking garage of the precinct, double parked behind a pair of marked cars, hopped out, and raced inside. She didn't even bother with the elevator, she raced up the stairs.

Looking around she found Kate in the breakroom sipping on a cup of coffee. She took the cup out of her hand and dropped it in the sink. "Let's go, I'm double parked." Olga pulled her along behind her.

Kate was still a little in shock. Partly because of Raglan but also because she'd only just called her. She couldn't have gotten here that fast.

Sure enough she was in the garage and double parked. It was kind of a cool morning, telling everyone that fall was coming.

Olga took two objects out of her coat and handed them to Kate. "Here, screw that into place."

Kate took them and looked at them. It looked like a semi-automatic and a silencer to her. She should ask her where she got it. Instead she attached the silence to the weapon and hung onto it for now. Kate had already told her where they were going and they rode there in silence.

Olga spotted an opening but it was too small even for her car. However, not too small if she drove straight in and parked partly on the sidewalk. "Give me that." Olga took her weapon back and put it inside her coat. "Let's go." Olga got out and let Kate lead.

Going through the door Kate saw him straight away. She turned left and walked down a row of tables and got in first followed by Olga.

"Jeez lady, what part of no cops didn't you understand?" Raglan was angry and disappointed in her.

"She's not a cop," Kate said.

"So who the hell is she then?" Raglan demanded.

"Someone I trust with my life. She's my girlfriend."

What Olga wanted to do right then was kiss her senseless, but this wasn't the time.

"Tell me what I don't know about my mother." Kate was all business.

"Cops never buy coffee out of mugs these day. Always plastic travel mugs. Something about the way it warms your hands. It's weird, the things you notice." Raglan laughed mostly at himself.

"I just got the long face from the doc. Lymphoma, six months," Raglan told them, mostly Kate, though.

"Sorry to hear that." Kate wasn't really all that sorry but she wanted to be nice.

"Every year around the holidays they run that Christmas Carol on TV. When I was a kid I remember that Jacob Marley scared the hell out of me. Forced to drag that chain around in the next world." Raglan was trying to say something.

"I forged the chain I made in life." Olga knew that movie.

"I made it. Link by link. I hid a lot of sins behind my badge. Now I got to carry them. But your mother's case, that on weighs a ton." Raglan knew what he had done and now it was time to pay.

"Because you wrote it off as random gang violence when you knew it wasn't." Kate was now more angry at him.

"I did what I was told and I kept quiet because I was afraid. About a year ago you killed a hit man named Dick Coonan. Big deal in the papers. People noticed." He was warning her.

"Who hired Coonan to kill my mom?" Kate asked him but he waved her off.

"You need some context here. This thing started about 19 years ago, before I ever even knew who Johanna Beckett was. Nineteen years ago…I made a bad mistake. And that started the dominoes falling. And one of them was your mother." Raglan never got any further.

Suddenly his coffee cup exploded, a woman screamed, and Raglan fell out of his bench seat.

"Everybody on the floor now!" Kate pulled out her weapon, followed Olga out of the bench, and looked around. She saw the hole in the window. She also saw Olga bursting out the front door.

"Back away from the window. Back away from the window!" Kate yelled at everyone as she was down on one knee still looking around.

Kate pulled out a radio. "One Lincoln Forty. I have shots fired. I need back up and an ambulance," she yelled into the radio.

"One Lincoln Forty repeat your message, you're broken. One Lincoln Forty, repeat. One Lincoln Forty this is dispatch, are you there? One Lincoln Forty?"

"One Lincoln Forty, please stand by. This is now a homicide." She knew a dead man when she saw one.

"OLGA!" Suddenly Kate stood up but she didn't see her anywhere. "OH GOD!" Suddenly her heart felt a pain she hadn't felt in a long time.


	8. Chapter 8

**Moving On**

_Chapter 8_

Olga knew a rifle shot using a silencer when she saw one. She had done it a few times herself.

Kate had been given an hour to meet him which told her that if whoever it was had the same amount of time, he had to either be listening in or had been watching him in the first place. It also told her that he hadn't had time to set up a place. So he'd either gotten lucky or had killed one or more to secure a spot.

She had to guess which building but if it was her she would already be on the way out, meaning a back door.

She busted through the door on the ground level just as someone inside opened it for her on their way out and rushed through the space looking for its back door. It wasn't that hard to find except it didn't open. "What idiot locks an emergency escape door?" It couldn't have been him, he didn't have the time.

Olga drew out her weapon, silently put three rounds in it, and opened the door. She found the standard alleyway for New York City that had a number of trash bins in it for everyone connected to it.

The sound of something had her looking and watched a big guy drop from the ladder of a fire escape. He was carrying a very familiar long, slim bag. The second he hit the ground she yelled, "STOP!" She was a little surprised that he was so quick. He drew a weapon and got off a shot which had her diving behind a trash bin.

When she was back up he was running away but still in sight. Olga quickly raised her weapon, shot twice, and hit him in an arm. She was rewarded with seeing him drop his bag. He looked her way so she finally got a good look at him.

He aimed. She ducked and heard his weapon fire again. Staying on the ground she crawled out and saw him start to turn a corner so she fired quickly and was rewarded with what she was sure was another hit.

Olga got up, ran to that corner, and stopped. Readying herself she took a quick peek then stepped out and looked around. Except all she saw were taxis and people walking. That forced her to hide her weapon. However, she didn't see him.

"SHIT!" It had happened before but she needed to get back this time instead of tracking him down and finishing him. That's when she saw the blood on the wall she was next to. She opened her coat and pulling out her shirt, wiped the bottom of it all over the blood to soak up all she could.

On the way back she picked up his case and went the long way to get back.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Olga was back before the police had shown up and as soon as she entered the coffee shop she found herself being hugged and kissed almost savagely. "Don't do that again. You scared me to death." Kate still felt her heart pounding in her chest.

Then she saw blood. "OH, SHIT! You've been shot again!" As if things couldn't get worse.

Olga was touched but she couldn't afford to stay there long. "It's not my blood." Olga saw all the patrons were still there so taking off her coat and then her shirt was out. So she took out a knife, cut her shirt, then ripped.

"Here, take this. I need to be gone before your friends show up. Now listen, I hit him twice for sure. Both in the left arm. The third is maybe and in the same arm. He's going to need serious hospital care if he wants to keep that arm. Got it?" Olga needed to make sure.

"Got it. Where will I find you?" Kate needed to be able to find her later.

"Home. Here take this, too. This is the rifle he used. Create a story about how you got it before they get here." Olga kissed her hard then left.

Kate wanted to do a lot of things. Chase after her, stay here and wait for the police to show up and take Raglan away. She needed to find out who had done this and who'd had her mother killed.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Retired NYPD gunned down in front of one of my people. Which means I'm going to have to do a damn press conference. Please tell me you didn't come down here without backup." Roy was not happy.

"We were backing her, Captain." Ryan and Espo showed up.

"Yeah, we were just a block over there," Espo pointed.

"Yeah, uh-huh." He knew a big fat lie when he heard one. "What the hell am I going to do with you?" Roy was still angry at Kate and knew she'd come down here all alone.

"You're going to let me work this case," Kate told him.

"You're too close to it. It's written all over your face." Roy had no intention of letting her work this case. "You were thinking what was Raglan going to tell you before he died. When you should be thinking about how you're going to catch the guy that killed him," Roy challenged her.

"Raglan was killed because he was going to tell me something about my mother's case. No one but me knows more about this case than I do," Kate argued.

"But I know you. You're going to pick up those scissors and run around that house with them. But I'm telling you, walk do not run. Go where the evidence leads you, not the other way around. Do you read me?" Roy was going to let her.

"Yes, sir," Kate nodded. "Loud and clear." It was enough that Roy walked away.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Found a bullet in the booth. 338 antipersonnel round." Kate was shown the bullet.

Kate sprayed some smoke to show the path of the bullet based on the hole in the window and the location of the bullet. "I read it as the building across the street, fourth floor," Kate told Espo and Ryan.

"I'll take it and lock the building down," Espo told her.

Kate knew he wouldn't find the guy since she believed Olga had shot him. Still he might find something.

"Help Espo, see if anyone was hanging around this building." She doubted it but they might get lucky. "Ryan." Kate stopped him.

Kate took a risk and handed him the case. "This is the gun and this is his blood. I found him in the back alley behind the building and got some shots off. He's going to lose an arm if he doesn't get hospital care and fast. Start with that and get this to ballistics." Kate was trusting him.

"Beckett?" Ryan was filled with questions.

"Please, Ryan, trust me and just do it." Kate was relieved to watch him go and take everything with him.

Kate was done here. However, she had somewhere to go.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate used her police car and drove straight to Olga's. She didn't bother knocking. The door wasn't locked but the second she opened the door an alarm went off. "Oops!" Kate turned and saw the alarm panel, input the code she knew by heart, and turned it off.

She hadn't made it far when she saw Olga running her way. She actually had a weapon with that silencer still attached. Then Olga stopped and put it behind her back.

Kate resisted the urge to run to her and walked instead. "How did it go?" Olga asked.

"Fine. Espo is searching the building and talking to people. Ryan has that rifle and the blood. Captain Montgomery's angry at me but is letting me work the case." Kate had held it together long enough.

She jumped at Olga, wrapped her arms around her, and kissed her with a fury and need she hadn't felt before. "Please don't do that again."

Olga smiled as she wrapped her arms around her in return. "You forget what I do for a living. I've done a lot worse. How do you think I got this?" Olga nodded at her shoulder.

"You must think badly of me." She wasn't used to feeling like this or caring about someone this much. What was worse was that her mother's case was now involved.

"On the contrary, I think I like this part of you." Olga kissed Kate and used her tongue to search her mouth. "You staying or going back?"

"I have a case, I have to go back. I need to find out who shot Raglan, what he knew about my mother, and who had her killed." She really had little choice.

"I have a request, then. Whoever killed him has secrets they intend to keep and I know all about secrets, believe me. I want you to pack a bag or two and move here," Olga told her.

"Move in with you?" Kate was learning to really like her and couldn't explain just why she cared so much. At the moment her head was in charge, however, her heart had gotten her here.

"I'm good at what I do and I can't protect you at your place, but I can protect you when you're here. …And I want you here. If they're willing to kill him to keep their secrets they're willing to kill you as well. Secrets this deep mean hired killers. You need to be very careful. If I can defeat you so easily, a hired killer can do the same.

"Now go home and get packed. You're staying where I can keep an eye on you. Both eyes." Olga took her back to her car. "You can go into work from here from now on." Olga kissed her deeply again and watched her drive away.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Olga helped take her suitcases into one of her closets. "I made some space for you. You're sleeping with me where I can keep an eye on you. I need to teach you how to turn on the security system even while you're here." Olga dropped the suitcase she was carrying and opened it to help put what she'd brought away.

"You don't need to do this." Kate would have been fine even at home.

"Afraid I'll see your sexy lingerie?" Olga teased her.

"No… Yes… Will you cut that out? I mean have me sleep here. I would have been perfectly safe at home." Regardless Kate worked at emptying the suitcase she still had.

"I'm not taking the risk. But thanks for humoring me and coming anyway." Olga stopped and kissed Kate's head. "I'm going to start dinner unless you want to cook this time," Olga teased her.

"I'm good, maybe next time," Kate said and went back to unpacking. "Something light please, it's getting late."

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate stepped out of the closet wearing panties and her sleep shirt. She really wasn't sure about this. Maybe she wasn't ready.

Stepping into the master bedroom doorway she saw Olga already in bed wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Then she watched her pat the empty space of the bed next to her.

Kate slid into bed and Olga pulled her in close to her. Then they began kissing and soon the kissing got passionate. Until Olga slowed down and just peck-kissed her. Then she really pulled Kate in close and held onto her. "Go to sleep," Olga murmured.

_SLEEP!? She g__o__t her all worked up and she want__ed__ her to go to sleep?_

"Olga, I want you to make love to me." There, she'd said it. Something she'd never thought she would ever ask a woman.

It was music to Olga's ears but she had a question. "Have you made love to a woman before?"

"Once. …It was during college. I was in the dorms my first and only year. I had a roommate. Shawn Murphy was her name. Other dorms had two or three roommates. I spent a lot of my time in the library. I realized how late it was and headed for my room. I found the door locked which wasn't unusual. I unlocked it, went inside, and locked it behind me. It was dark and the lights were off so I assumed she was asleep. Except I smelled something I couldn't place at first.

"I found her on her bed naked and she was stroking herself. I was smelling her. She asked me to make love to her. That we could become lovers in addition to roommates. Forget finding a guy and ending up pregnant.

"Long story short we had sex that night. Then two days later she was gone. All her clothes and everything that was hers was gone and I never saw her again. I spent the rest of that semester until I dropped out of school after my mother was killed alone in my room," Kate explained.

"Did you enjoy it?" It was important.

"It was nice. Nice enough." Kate was getting wet so she reached down to see if she was wet yet. Instead of a wet pussy she felt something else. Something that shouldn't be there. "YOU'RE A GUY!" She had a cock!

Kate pulled away from her and stared at her in utter shock. "No, technically I'm not," Olga countered.

"You have a cock and balls. How does that not make you a male?" She was lying through her teeth and wasn't sure how she felt about that. She knew she was learning to really like her and maybe starting to fall in love with her. But this…

"I'm an intersex," Olga admitted to her, making her one of the very few who knew.

"A what?" At the moment she was thinking transsexual, a male that had breasts who wanted to be a woman.

"Intersex. Last I knew there are only two of us on the planet like me. The other one is somewhere in China last I knew. I was born with both sexes." Olga knew she was going to have to explain in depth when this time came so she was willing and ready.

"When I was just a child my parents didn't know what to do for me. I learned later it was why we left Paris. France wasn't going to be a good place for me so they moved to Canada where people and doctors were more forgiving and understanding. When I was old enough to understand I decided I wanted to be a girl.

"I started taking estrogen in tablets and shots. It started out as one tablet a day and one shot a week. Then puberty hit and it was increased to two tablets a day and two shots a week. I'm down to one tablet a day and one shot a week again.

"I have a penis and testicles, yes. I can create sperm and ejaculate. But I also have a vagina, a uterus, and one ovary. I have periods just like any woman does. I also release an egg once in a while. I don't have any Fallopian tubes so my body absorbs each egg I release.

"My sperm count is so low it would be a miracle if I got anyone pregnant. …I'm a girl, I swear. What I don't have is a clitoris. I have a penis instead," Olga explained and prayed.

"Intersex?" Kate repeated and wasn't just sure what to think. She also didn't know what to do. She had packed, moved here, and had been willing to have sex with a woman because she cared for her. She had done it before. Now what was she going to do?

Olga got up, yanked down her shorts, and showed her. Sure enough she had a cock; it was semi-erect and she had balls. The entire area was shaved bald. There wasn't a hair to be seen. Then Kate watched her lift her leg and place it on the bed's front corner above her head and showed her.

Kate at first didn't want to look but then she did. Her eyes zeroed in on the spot and she was sure her mouth had fallen open. Sure enough she saw a vagina right where it was supposed to be and a little beyond was her anus. She was even wet because she was stimulated and that was her fault.

Then she put her foot back on the floor, stood there, and waited. Then Kate watched her kneel down in front of her.

"I care about you a lot and I'm falling in love with you. I really want to protect you when you're here. It'll kill me if they get to you and I could have stopped it. I'll sleep upstairs," Olga offered. "We don't have to do anything tonight or anything at all if you want to dump me. Just let me help you. I really am good at what I do," Olga begged her and watched her for any reaction.

She looked like the Olga she knew. She was wearing a t-shirt and no bra so she saw her breasts and her nipples easily enough. They were basically the same size as hers.

"I need to think." Kate asked for time and Olga leaned in to give her a quick kiss that she actually returned. She watched her move around to her side of the bed and got back in bed but stayed far on her side. Kate chose to stay on her side of the bed and went to sleep.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate woke up to find Olga's face right in front of her. She started to think she'd migrated to her side of the bed. Only as she woke up a little more she was on her side of the bed.

Since she had an internal alarm clock that almost never failed her she knew it was time to get up and get ready to go into work. So she rolled out of bed on her side and went to the spare bedroom to get ready.

Stepping into the main bathroom to get dressed she heard the shower running which told her Olga was showering. Kate got dressed and waited in the kitchen for her.

Finally Olga joined her but stayed away from her and Kate actually felt a little hurt. "Breakfast?" Olga inquired.

"I'm good. I need to get to work. I have a killer to find." Kate really needed to get to work.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

They drove to her precinct in silence and both were hurting inside. Olga stopped just outside. "You called me because you trusted me with Raglan. Please be careful and call me when you're ready to come home. Or call me if you need me. I'll do anything." Olga meant it, too. If she needed someone to chase someone down she was her girl.

Kate silently got out, closed the door, and stood there. Then suddenly she ran around the car out into traffic and waited for her to roll down her window. Then Kate leaned in and kissed her and then ran into the precinct.

Olga smiled as she looked and pulled out into traffic to go home and wait. It was going to be a really bad day, she just knew it.

Kate was first in save for Captain Montgomery. The very first thing she did was turn on her computer, got on the Internet, and read all she could find about intersex. She quickly found that Olga had told her the truth, though most often an intersex person wasn't like her. Most had more problems than she appeared to have.

Kate saw Espo standing next to her. "I checked out the fourth floor. No prints, no casings, no witnesses. But the building is a secure building. The only way in or out is to use your card through the lobby and it has surveillance. They're sending over a list of all their employees and a list of everyone that used a card that day." Espo thought he was making progress.

Then Ryan showed up. "Gary McAlister. Raglan's old academy classmate" He handed over a picture of the two holding up a marlin they had caught.

"Ballistics has confirmed that was the gun that was used. We got prints off the weapon but can't match them to anyone. They're still looking at the blood you gave me," Ryan added.

"You found the weapon and blood?" This was the first Espo had heard of this.

"We've got the word out to every hospital and clinic we know of. If he comes in for help we'll know it," Ryan said since he had been really busy almost all night long. They both knew what this meant for Kate.

"You have blood? Why would he need a hospital?" Espo was missing something.

"Because he got shot. …Find McAlister. Bring him in. I want to talk to him. Get to work on that surveillance. What we don't have is a picture of him." Kate had someone to interview.

"Mom died 12 years ago. What does 19 years ago have to do with anything." Kate had a clue but didn't know what to do with it. What she did know was that Raglan had lied to her all those years ago and that really pissed her off.


	9. Chapter 9

**Moving On**

_Chapter 9_

"I have to kick that son of a bitch loose now. You realize that, don't you?" Roy was angry and he was really angry at Kate.

"Sir, you heard him. He as much as confessed to the murder," Kate fought back.

"Come on, he's playing you. And you let him get under your skin like a damn rookie. We have nothing to tie him to Raglan's murder or your mother's. You're off this case!" Roy knew it had been a mistake to let her do anything.

Kate couldn't believe it. He couldn't do this to her. "No sir, you can't do that."

"I just did." Roy stuck to his guns.

"No." He couldn't! She had never been this close.

"I JUST DID! Now you go home." Roy looked at her and waited for her to leave. She had her orders. What Kate missed was that Roy told Espo and Ryan to take lead on the case only to have both of them decline.

Roy held up his badge. "What does this say?"

"Captain," Ryan answered.

"Damn right. You want to help her, get your butts out there and solve the damn case." Roy was still angry.

"Yes, sir," both Espo and Ryan said.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"You're home early." Olga was glad to see her.

"Montgomery threw me off the case." Kate threw her coat toward a dining room chair and missed, letting it fall to the floor and didn't care in the slightest.

"Did he say why?" Olga asked her.

"We got a lead on a guy named Vulcan Simmons. A drug dealer in Washington Heights, except he's been off the radar for a few years. I had him brought in so I could question him. He… He talked about my mother. I let him get under my skin and I attacked him." Kate took the glass Olga offered her and sipped it before drinking it down.

"Oops." Olga knew her mother's death meant a lot to her, but not this much.

"Yeah, Captain had to cut him loose and he kicked me off the case." Kate put her now empty glass down.

"Well he didn't kick me off the case." Olga hadn't been idle since finding out. "Follow me." Olga took her upstairs to her office space that she used for her _jobs._

"Raglan said something about 19 years so I did some research. Your mother was killed 12 years ago. I began trying to find a connection," Olga told her.

"Did you?" Kate was starting to understand what she did for a living.

"Forgive me, but I looked into your mother's murder. She was killed in an alley and left for dead." Olga watched Kate nod. "Well she wasn't the only one killed in that alley. Nineteen years ago an FBI agent was killed in that exact same alley. His name was Bob Armen.

"Nineteen years ago that alley was access to a club that's long been shut down. It was a mob run club." Olga let Kate see the pictures on her monitor.

"The mob caught on to him and killed him," Kate suggested.

"Possibly. …Now guess who the arresting officer was for that killing?" Olga brought it up on her monitor. Olga was far more used to secrets and working in gray areas than Kate was.

"John Raglan." Kate wasn't sure just where all this was going but she liked it.

"The killing of the FBI agent was attributed to one Joe Pulgatti. Any idea where Joe Pulgatti is today?" Olga asked her. "You get one guess."

"Prison." Kate smiled wide.

"You're a police officer. Your captain didn't suspend you, he simply took you off Raglan's murder. He didn't take you off your mother's and you can go where I can't that easily." Olga was pretty sure she could get in but it would be more difficult for her and she would leave behind a record that she'd been there.

"I love you." Kate grabbed her head and kissed her soundly. Then she let go and ran for the stairs, her jacket, then her car.

"I love you too," Olga told the empty space where Kate used to be. She was actually pretty sure she did, too.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"I didn't kill Bobbie Armen," Pulgatti said.

"Then why did you say you did?" Kate was used to hearing felons claim their innocence.

"Because I don't like needles," Pulgatti replied.

"Detective Raglan placed you in the alley at the time of the murder." Kate refuted his claim, even if anything Raglan did or said was now suspect.

"Yeah, I was in that alley. I was the only witness to his murder and it wasn't me. But it wasn't a hit. It was a kidnapping that went sideways. Three men in ski masks rolled up in a van and said they wanted to take me on a tour of the city. Bobbie tried to stop it and went for one of their guns and wound up on the wrong end of it," Pulgatti swore.

"Rival gang?" Kate asked.

"No, no way. We had a truce back then. We did hear that there was this ghost group that was out kidnapping members of all five families. I was in that alley, but no one else could have known that. …It was a blind alley. The only other people in that alley were the people that shot him. So you tell me, Detective. How did Raglan know that I was there?"

"There was a woman named Johanna Beckett. She was in that alley about 7 years after your incarceration." Kate got back on the topic she cared the most about.

"You look just like her. The second I saw you it was like I was looking at a ghost. The way she talked about you… I should have known you would become a cop. You know I sent letters to every lawyer I could find. In the end there was only one that wrote me back. Only one that took a chance on me. She didn't care that I was a thug." He was still really impressed with her.

"All she cared about was the truth." Kate knew her mother well.

"She said she would look into my case. Later I found out that she was murdered. Don't get yourself killed chasing this thing. Believe me there's nothing more dangerous out there than a killer with a badge. You're going to be next." Pulgotti did all he could for her.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate was at her desk after having her ass removed by her captain. She had gotten McAlister in and had interrogated him. Got him to admit that he and Raglan used to pick up mobsters and hold them. But they couldn't hold them forever so they put them up for bail. If the mob wanted them back they had to pay for it. He was proud of what they had done.

She learned that McAlister knew who was behind it all. He warned her that she was never going to be able to touch him. All she had done was wake the Dragon.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"He's afraid but who it is isn't a cop." A cop couldn't put that kind of fear into someone. "We need that shooter."

"We got a lead on what might be a girlfriend. One of these two." Espo showed her pictures.

"You take this one, I'll take this one," Kate told them.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate found hers dead and called Espo. "Mine's dead."

"We're on our way." They didn't need to find theirs any longer.

Next thing Kate knew was the two of them were yelling and there was a loud bang.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"What have you got?" Kate was on the phone with her captain.

"What you heard was a flash bang. They're both gone. All we found were their phones," Roy said.

Kate didn't know what to do next. However, she did have one card to play.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Olga, they got Espo and Ryan. My partners. They're going to kill them. I could use some help," Kate said to her.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"You're sure about this?" Kate was sitting in the drivers seat of her cruiser with Olga sitting next to her.

"Positive. …Here." Olga handed her something.

"Night scope." She had some cool toys. "I've got one guard. Either of us get anywhere near him and they're both dead. Any ideas?" Kate asked her and stopped looking at the guard to look at her and watched her take something from between her legs.

"This is a stupid idea," Kate muttered as she walked toward the guard who had clearly spotted her. Then just as suddenly his head jerked and the door behind him showed red. She hadn't heard a thing.

What Olga had brought with her could explain it. She ran for the door. Inside she saw both Ryan and Espo and three men. She was still working on what to do first when she felt Olga press against her back.

"Ice water, crude but effective. The guy with the sling is your guy. He's yours." Olga lifted up a hand weapon with a silencer on it. "The other two are mine. Once you have yours you're on your own." Olga couldn't stay.

"Ready?" Olga asked and watched her raise her weapon. "Get moving." Olga took two quick shots and put a round in each head of her two while Kate rushed the guy with his arm in a sling.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate had made sure Espo and Ryan were good. Their egos were hurt more than anything else. While she was going to need to write this all up and leave Olga out of it, she still had one place to be and at the moment she was driving there.

Kate used her key, let herself in, and turned off the alarm. She locked the front door and turned the alarm back on like she'd been taught.

Kate found Olga sitting in a chair at her dining room table with a glass and a bottle. Kate saw that she had noticed her but didn't move. Kate went into the kitchen and got herself her own glass, sat down next to her, and poured her own drink.

"How are they?" Olga inquired.

"Mild hypothermia, wounded pride. Guess which will heal first?" Kate smiled at her and sipped her drink. "Thank you. You didn't really have to do anything." She could have stayed out of it.

"Yes, I did." Olga was willing to do a whole lot more and was already trying to do just that. She saw the questioning look on her face. "I love you, Kate. I've learned to love you." She couldn't not help her or continue to help her if she would let her.

"May I ask a question? …Why did you change your mind and say yes?" Olga meant when they first met and invited her to coffee.

"You're going to think I've lost my mind." Kate wasn't sure she hadn't, truth be told.

"That would take a lot." Olga was thinking a whole lot.

"I had case about a dead psychic. Someone had stuck an ice pick in her neck and stuffed her into a sleeper sofa," Kate started off with.

"Unique." Olga could genuinely say she had never seen or thought of that before.

"I talked to a neighbor to see if she knew anything. She was a nice old lady with silver hair. While we were talking she offered to read my palm. Naturally I declined."

"Kate Beckett the non-believer." Olga couldn't say she was a believer but Kate was clearly the type that wouldn't believe.

"She was persistent so I let her so I could prove she was a fake." Kate was maybe still trying to defend herself. "She did the usual and shows me my lifeline. Then she shows me this love line and has me put my palm against a crystal globe." Kate watched as Olga raised an eyebrow at that.

"She tells me that a love I could have had had been dismissed by me then proceeds to tell me more about him. She said that love was gone and wasn't ever coming back. However, I had one more love line. If I blew this person off like I'd done with the first one I would never find love again. I would be living my life alone until the day I died."

"And you believed her?" Olga doubted it but one never knew.

"No, not for a second. After the case was over I went back to her to tell her we'd caught the killer and to prove that she was a fraud. Except she wasn't there. Instead a couple lived there. They had just gotten back from a cruise to the Bahamas the night before. They had been gone five days and didn't know of any old lady with silver hair," Kate said.

"A mystery. Interesting." It still didn't explain why though.

"They let me in to look around and everything was just like I remembered. Everything right down to the furniture and the pictures on the wall. And when I opened the door to the room she had read my palm in it was just this tiny closet that had coats in it. It barely fit me let alone a table, two chairs, and a crystal globe." Kate still had one more thing.

Olga simply raised an eyebrow. Changing a room wasn't that hard to do, but why go to the trouble?

"They said they'd found this card on the floor inside the front door. About the size of a business card." Kate used her hand to demonstrate the size. "They fished it out of the trash and showed it to me. It had…" Kate needed a drink for this so she downed what she had left.

"It said _I told you so_ on it. It was written, not printed. I spent hours comparing it to my mother's handwriting. It was an exact match." Kate was done.

Olga was quiet while she thought. "So an old lady who didn't exist tells you about a future love. Your last chance for love and leaves behind a card that says I told you so."

"It was my mother's favorite saying. Every time she proved that she was right and I was wrong she would tell me _I told you so._ Made me angry," Kate admitted.

"So you said yes because of an old lady that you don't for a second believe left something behind that said I told you so." Olga wanted to make sure she had this straight. "So now what?"

Kate's glass was empty and yes, she could refill it but she didn't need to. Her head and her heart were still in conflict but if she didn't she just might end up all alone until the day she died.

Kate pushed her glass away from her across the table. "Make love to me. …Please." It was the biggest risk she'd ever taken in her life.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate turned over and found Olga gone, however the sheets were still warm so she hadn't been gone long.

Kate had learned a lot making love to Olga. One was that Olga clearly didn't have the kind of experience with sex like she did. She was betting that it was because Olga was what she was. And while they hadn't yet talked about it Kate wouldn't be surprised if she was her first. In a way she liked that thought.

Another was that Olga did indeed get an erection and having her inside her was very fulfilling. While sex with Shawn back in college had been interesting and nice and possibly nice enough for them to end up and stay lovers, Shawn's leaving had prevented that. Now she liked being fucked and Olga was capable of doing just that.

Still another was that Olga's come and pussy juice actually did taste good enough. With some practice she might even learn to crave it. All of that had helped to solidify that she was learning to love Olga. And not just because she had helped her with the Raglan case and save Espo and Ryan.

She did still have questions about how she'd learned so much. She smiled, betting Olga would tell her that she didn't have the security clearance.

Her bed was really comfortable and while staying in it might be nice, it meant staying in it alone. So she swung her legs over the side of the bed and went in search of her. She found her almost instantly. She could hear the water in the shower running. Since it was big enough for two Kate joined her and slipped her arms around her from behind.

"I got lonely," Kate said into her bare back and let Olga twist around to face her.

"It's morning, I was thinking you have to go into work. You have paperwork to fill out and you need to check on your friends. And I need to go grocery shopping or we're going to starve," Olga mentioned.

"Yeah." She did need to do all those things. Then she stood up straighter. "I overslept?" That would be a first in a really long time.

"You had a lot on your mind." Olga knew a lot had happened in her life.

Kate sighed. "I do need to get back to the precinct." She did have a lot to do and a lot to tell her captain.

"The shower's all yours." Olga kissed her and felt Kate kissing her back.

Kate was mostly dry and took clothes out of the closet. She still had two suitcases of clothes here and walked into the bedroom to get dressed. She saw Olga with a shirt on, sliding into jeans.

Kate saw her look and she didn't mind that she was naked. Olga had already seen everything and was going to get to see a whole lot more several times over.

"May I ask a question?" Kate was curious.

"Of course." She had secrets but Kate already knew she couldn't tell her all of them.

"How do you hide…your…" Kate wasn't sure just what word to use and motioned to a space below her belt.

"My penis, dick, cock, Tommy whacker…." Olga was all set to keep going.

"Yes, that." She didn't need to hear what that part of her was called that many times.

"I use gaffs. I push my testicles up into their sockets then use a specially made panty to hide the rest." Olga turned to face her and looked down. As did Kate.

Kate raised an eyebrow since what she saw were tight fitting jeans and she could swear she saw her vulva just poking out a bit. "These don't just hide that part of me but give a hint that I'm all woman. Others just hide," Olga explained. "You can find them for transvestites easily enough. The site talks about them as crows feet. Not a term I approve of." Olga didn't like that word.

"Yeah, me neither." That part of her wasn't crows feet. Then watched as Olga came up to her with her hands still full of clothes and shoes.

"Have a good day at work. Just don't forget to come back here. It isn't over just yet," Olga cautioned her.

That had Kate remembering what McAlister had told her. She had woke the Dragon, and she wanted the Dragon. He was somehow involved in her mother's murder.


	10. Chapter 10

**Moving On**

_Chapter 10_

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_**Okay, i've been silent about this but can't any longer. ALL GUESTS SHOULD READ OR NOT READ AND REMAIN VERY SILENT!** You have no rights to comment at all save that the website allows it. You don't like the story then don't read it. Don't like how i present it, than write your own! An anonymous opinion has no value. You should know that. But then that's the point isn't it. Cowardice has no value. A statement made shows that you have no knowledge about what it takes to post a story. What options you have actually are. For your limited mind to understand. Rick Castle and Alexis Castle has been and will be again a part of this story. Contrary to your limited mind can understand, characters listed are **NOT **MAIN CHARACTERS that MUST be part of each and every chapter posted._

_**All guests are to remain SILENT!**_

For everyone else i apologize for this and the Guest. Guests like this are why writers have stopped writing before. I've been asked before to ignore the Guests and not stop writing. I already have 4 completed stories yet to be posted and i'm 36 chapters deep into the 5th story.

I just wish Guests would understand that they are Guests and behave like Guests and have manners and not act like thoughtless Jerks.

The End, we now return you to our story.

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Kate didn't even think of going back to her apartment. She drove to Olga's church slash house basically on auto pilot and parked in the driveway that held the TR6 on the other side of the garage door.

She didn't know for sure but she took a chance and went down to her craft room first instead of going upstairs. Kate smiled when she found her working on something.

"I thought I might find you down here." Kate saw her head snap up to look and Olga watched as Kate reset the alarm.

"How did it go?" Olga stopped what she was doing and listened since she wanted to hear this.

"Not too bad, but I had to do a lot of lying." Kate walked up to her and looked at what she was doing. "You shot those two with a weapon I can't explain and no one could find."

"Oops." Olga really wasn't used to having her weapons accounted for in a shooting. "I hadn't thought about that. Sorry."

"Another was how I knew where Espo and Ryan were located and who shot the guy out front. They're doing an autopsy on the bodies so they'll eventually find the rounds you used," Kate informed her.

"Sounds like I've made trouble for you. That wasn't my intent." Olga didn't know if she could fix any of that.

"I'll be fine. We got Lockwood and Espo and Ryan are fine. They'll be out on medical leave for a bit but they're alive which they wouldn't be without you. So thank you for everything." Kate owed her.

"I couldn't just sit back and do nothing. I had to help you," Olga told her.

"Because you love me." Kate wasn't used to anyone loving her except for her dad.

"Yes, I do. Sounds like I need two new weapons. I'll get rid of those two where no one will ever find them and get replacements." She already knew just the place for both weapons.

"Olga." Kate needed to ask this question. "Was I your first? Sex, I mean."

Olga answered her question with a question. "And if you were?"

"I'm honored and worried," Kate admitted.

"That obvious, was I?" Olga had done her best to try and not show it.

"A little, yes." She had climbed inside her far too quickly. She was good at eating her pussy but not that good. Not like Shawn had been good, if she remembered correctly.

"Now you're worried that I love you because you were my first and not because I love you for you. …It's understandable, I suppose. But I loved you before we had sex. I only love you more now because of it," Olga said quietly.

Kate watched as she stepped over to her and slipped her arms around her causing her to do the same. "I think I know you don't love me yet. That card you found is what got you to me and you're probably still struggling with that. I can wait. I just ask that you give us a chance. Please." Olga's eyes never left Kate's face.

"I… You should know that after my mother was murdered I built up these walls to keep people out. I didn't want to get hurt like that again. I want to find someone to love and love me back just as much. I honestly do. I know somewhere along the way I'm going to screw this up. Just know I don't mean to." Kate really did want to find someone to love and not because she found an old lady who told her things and left something behind that made her think it was her mother trying to tell her something.

"I'll keep that in mind. You need to remember what I do for a living as well. After I'm better I'll start taking jobs again. You need to know that there's a chance that I might not come back," Olga cautioned her.

"I know. I'm a cop. I might not come back some day, either, and I'm used to that. Save for my dad I've never had anyone worrying about me that much. …Olga. Do you really need that much money?" She didn't know how much she got paid but this house and that care weren't cheap.

"I have a dream and I need money to achieve it. I'm not there yet." She was going to need more than she had and that was after or even if she sold everything.

"Care to share?" Just what was she planning?

"Not just yet. Maybe if you stick around long enough. Speaking of which, how long do you plan to stay?" Olga knew what she wanted Kate to do, but if she wasn't ready yet she wasn't going to force it on her.

"I haven't decided yet." Kate felt torn. She wanted to fall in love yet she wanted her independence as well.

"I won't push then…much." Olga chose that point to kiss her and they both allowed the kiss to get more heated. "You're spending the night at least?" They could make love again if she did.

Kate simply smiled and kissed her again.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

_It is now four weeks later_

Kate was headed home. She hadn't even thought about the fact that she was headed for Olga's place and that she was thinking of it as home.

They made love to each other nightly. They'd even gone out on dates three times so far when Kate had two days off for her to enjoy them.

Today she was even smiling as she drove. She could feel it. She was actually falling in love with someone and that someone was Olga.

Kate parked in her usual space, went in through the front door, and reset the alarm. Kate dropped her keys, her bag, and put her weapon down since it didn't need to be locked up. Then she went in search of Olga and stopped at the kitchen long enough to inhale the smells emanating from the crock pot. Kate hummed from the mouthwatering smell.

She actually had shown Olga that she knew how to cook. Granted it was only twice so far but she had plans on doing it again.

At first she thought that she was down in her craft room. Why she hadn't planned ahead and put in stairs inside the house to reach it escaped her and she hadn't as yet asked her why. Then she found her in her closet since Kate had almost taken over one of them.

Kate actually had more clothes and shoes over here than she did at her apartment. In fact she hadn't even been to her apartment in a week.

"What are you doing?" She was packing what looked like an overnight bag. "You took a job." Kate knew she couldn't stop her but that didn't mean she liked it.

"Not yet, I haven't healed enough. I've planned a trip to replace the weapons I got rid of helping you. I have a charter flight out tomorrow and then right back in three days," Olga told her. She had found them and arranged for the flight while Kate was at work.

"Where are you going?" Kate asked. "You can't tell me." She was really beginning to hate this. She was telling Olga everything she could and yet Olga couldn't tell her anything.

"It's not so much that I can't tell you, it's that you're better off not knowing. I don't leave until tomorrow then I'm back three days later. You'll never even know I'm gone," Olga promised.

At the rate they were making love Kate knew better than that. "Just make sure it's safe." Kate didn't want to be patching up another bullet wound.

"Perfectly." Unless there was another rocket attack that got lucky and hit where she was which was unlikely. Or a stupid suicide bomber blew himself up when she was too close.

"So what are you getting?" Kate queried as she watched Olga finish packing and exited the closet right behind her.

"Looking for a hint are we?" Olga was on to her.

"So shoot me." Kate smiled at her which had Olga laughing.

Olga gave her a clue. "One Tavor Tag Integral with a meprp rantel. Then one Maxim 9 and two Walther P99s fitted with Kemmer Tech BA-5 laser sights, modified to lesson the weight required on the trigger."

"Jeez, you looking to start a war?" Kate hadn't even asked her yet what was in the two gun safes down in the craft room.

"You woke a Dragon, Kate. I intend to be prepared. I love you too much to lose you now."

What she said went straight to Kate's heart. It was sweet. "Well, let's see, the Tavor Tag is Israeli, I think. The Walther P99s are German, I know that much. I don't think I even know what a Maxim 9 is. So either Germany or Israel. Am I close?" Kate grinned at her.

"Disturbingly so. You sure you don't want to join me in my job? …It would mean you get a security clearance." Olga offered her a carrot.

"And live in your world of gray and secrets? No, thanks. I like my job."

"Probably wise." Olga leaned across to kiss her. "Maybe I can take you out to a gun range and show them to you."

"The precinct has a gun range. Pretty sure I can get you in," Kate offered, wondering just how good Olga was since she was pretty good herself.

"Sign us up. I'll bring one of the Walther P99s. Dinner should be ready." It had been cooking for hours.

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Kate had her flight schedule. She'd memorized it and was even driving her to the airport in the TR6. "Please stay safe." Olga was pretty far past her walls to lose her now.

"Nothing to worry about. It's a perfectly legal purchase. I just can't find them locally. Come get me." Olga leaned across and kissed Kate who kissed her back with passion. "Do _not_ go chasing the Dragon without me. I come home to find he's killed you and I'll kill you. …Twice," Olga warned her.

Kate laughed and watched Olga get out and go inside. It was going to be a long and boring three days. She was addicted to her and was willing to admit it to herself.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Lanie had talked her into going out for drinks. Since Kate was still staying at Olga's place, she had used her TR6 with her permission. Kate was actually starting to enjoy driving it. Using a 7 speed manual transmission was proving to be a challenge, however, she had yet to get going fast enough to use the higher gears. Still she was a little late and that was mostly because she needed to find a place to park.

"Girlfriend!" Lanie was happy she had shown up. They hadn't talked in weeks. Not even immediately after that business with Lockwood.

"Hi Lanie." Kate gave her a quick hug then sat down. "Started without me, I see." Lanie already had a drink.

"You're late," Lanie fired back.

Kate defended herself. "It took me a little while to find a place to park."

Lanie didn't waste time. "So what's his name?"

"What?" Kate should have known but she was still literally too preoccupied. Olga had been gone two of her three days and the house was empty without her. Kate hadn't really noticed being alone in her apartment before. Now being alone wasn't something she card for all that much.

Lanie tried again. "You're smiling. More than usual. So what's his name?"

"There is no him," Kate answered and moved her mouth a little to see if she really was smiling. Damned if she wasn't. Just a little anyway.

"Liar." Lanie knew better. "Keep your secret for now but you are telling me everything." Lanie wasn't giving up that easily. "So how are you doing? Lockwood had the guys."

"He's involved with my mother's death. I just haven't figured out how yet." She wasn't even worried about the Dragon that McAlister had warned her about. This Dragon hadn't met her yet.

"You'll figure it out." Lanie had faith.

There was a pause as Kate gave her drink request.

"So what's new in your life?" Lanie asked as a way to find out his name.

"I'm more interested in what's new with you. How are you and Javi getting along?" Enough about her love life that she wasn't ready to share about yet.

"We're not." Lanie drank some of her drink.

"What happened? I thought you two were getting along." Espo hadn't said anything and he wasn't nearly as tight-lipped as she was.

"I found out that he's in love with someone else, a different girl. He's simply lost track of her but he still loves her. I didn't get much out of him. I got the feeling that she's a _bad girl._"

"Bad guys, bad girls. I'm sorry, Lanie." Her friend seemed to have the worst luck.

"I'll survive. So what do you know about Kevin's girlfriend?" Lanie kept the topic but just changed about who.

"Kevin has a girlfriend? First I've heard anything about it. …So he's holding out on us." Kate still wanted to keep Olga a secret but that didn't mean her friends could keep secrets about theirs.

"I got it from Javi when we were still talking. He didn't know much. Didn't even know her name, but he knows something." Lanie had learned that much.

"Hmm." Kate was going to have to grill both of them, it was sounding like.

"Maybe they're learning it from you. You've got someone, it's written all over your face. You have _I'm happy _written all over you and I'm happy for you. So does it have anything to do with that card you found?" Lanie had to learn something. Kate had to tell her something or she was going to burst.

"I…yeah. Maybe. I don't know if that card's right but it got me to risk it." Kate saw Lanie grinning at her. Kate caved in. "Okay, yes, I've met someone."

"How's the sex?" Lanie couldn't help it, she had sex on the brain.

Lanie watched her smile get even bigger and bigger. "Amazing!" Kate actually wanted Olga to come home so she could make love to her.

"So is your heart involved with this person yet?" Was her friend finally in love? In her head she just kept thinking _Please say yes, Kate, please say yes._

"Maybe… I think so." She knew her head wasn't in charge any longer when it came to Olga so maybe or hopefully her heart was.

"Kate Beckett's in love!" Lanie was so very happy for her. "So what's his name?"

"Uh-uh, no way. I'm not ruining it. It's my secret for now and I'm keeping it." Kate wasn't ready for that. She might be willing to have a relationship with a woman but that didn't mean everyone else would be equally ready.

Lanie groaned. "Fine. How long have you been seeing each other?" Maybe that would help her to figure out who it was.

"Two months, maybe." She hadn't actually been keeping track but it felt like about that long.

"And where did you meet this hunk?" For Kate to be in love he had to be a hunk.

Kate opened her mouth to tell her they met at her desk. But if she talked to Espo she might work it out that it was Olga. "Not a chance, Lanie. Nice try."

"So where is this special person now? What can you tell me?" Lanie would take all she could worm out of her.

Kate needed to be careful because she was about to say SHE was out of town at the moment.

"Out shopping somewhere. Will be back tomorrow," Kate said.

"You don't even know where he went shopping?" That she didn't know wasn't the Kate she was used to. She must really be in love.

Kate almost said she. "Went looking for something. Something about either Israel or Germany. Very mysterious." Kate might never admit it but she was interested in seeing what Olga brought back and to finally see what was in those two gun safes.

Lanie opened her eyes wide. She hadn't even considered that he was in a different country. Now she was curious as to what he could only get in Israel or Germany and couldn't get here.

"And where does he live?" Lanie doubted she would give her an address but maybe he was in Jersey or something or even further out.

"The Bronx," Kate told her.

"A Bronx accent. That could be sexy." Lanie was starting to like this guy even if she didn't have a name. …Yet!

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Kate was parked, not really used to the charter plane area of any airport. She had never chartered a plane and didn't even know what planes were available, though she was betting jets. Only smaller than the commercial one.

Kate watched Olga come out of the building with a bag over her shoulder and one in each hand. She'd obviously gotten what she had wanted to get.

Kate got out so she could open the trunk so Olga could drop her bags in them. The second she did she turned Olga to face her, wrapped her arms around her, and kissed her. She finally broke for some air before kissing her again.

"Miss me?" Olga wasn't really guessing.

"Yes! Now get in so we can go." Kate had driven out here in her TR6 and she was going to be driving back.

"I take it you found what you were looking for." Unless there was something else in those bags.

"I had no problem at all. So what's your case this time?" Olga hadn't really given much thought to just how many murders took place in New York City. Not until she got involved with Kate.

"I've got a dead champion swimmer with a few suspects," Kate said.

"So how does a champion swimmer die?" Olga was curious now.

"He drowned," Kate said simply and turned to look at Olga who was staring at her. "He had help, obviously. Someone used a chemical over his mouth that rendered him unconscious then left him in the pool to drown."

Olga offered some ideas. "Girlfriend was mad at him? A jealous boyfriend after he sees them together? A competitor that was tired of losing to him?"

"The girlfriend is five foot two," Kate informed her.

"So not the girlfriend. …Unless she had help." Olga turned to look at Kate again.

"She has four Irish brothers all over six feet tall," Kate admitted.

"And her loving Irish brothers decide to help out their little sister." Olga thought about that. She was an only child so she didn't know anything about loving brothers or sisters.

"Unfortunately, no. We did, however, find some high grade steroids in his room, hidden in a wall." Kate didn't even think about how she really shouldn't be sharing this information. Olga now meant too much to her to keep silent.

"So your dead champion swimmer is taking steroids so he can win. It's happened before, it'll happen again. …Is he also dealing in the stuff?" Olga queried.

"Please tell me you're not taking that stuff." Kate would kill her if she was.

"Just estrogen shots, my love, just estrogen," Olga said.

"I hate needles. I hate hospitals, too," Kate admitted easily. She didn't hate that hospitals existed, she just hated being in them for any reason.

Olga huffed out a laugh. "I've taken more estrogen shots in my lifetime already than most junkies have taken in their short lives. Which reminds me, I need to take one when we get home." She'd forgotten to take anything with her.

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Kate was unzipping bags and looking at what Olga had brought home while Olga disappeared into her bathroom. Kate whistled at what had to be the Tavor Tag. She left them where she found them and went looking for her.

Kate found her sitting on the commode with the seat closed. Her pants were down and she was just plunging a needle into her right leg. Kate clapped a hand over her mouth and turned around.

Olga had spotted her. "You really do hate needles. There, all done. The next one is a week from now." Olga got up and put her arms around her from behind. "You okay?" Olga was going to be taking shots for years to come so if she couldn't handle her taking them they had a problem.

Kate spun to face her and put her own arms around her. "You can't just take pills?" She took pills daily, so just take more.

"Sorry, the estrogen needs to be injected straight into a muscle for it to be effective. Are we good?" Olga searched her eyes.

"Yeah, we're good." She would just learn to deal with it.

"Good, now make love to me. I've missed you." Olga kissed her and felt Kate kissing her back until they slowly stripped each other.


	11. Chapter 11

**Moving On**

_Chapter 11_

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_Ha,Ha, very funny. It is to laugh. Just my luck i get the critical of everything guests who think they have a sense of humor. Or have any say in any story they read. It really is simple you know. Don't like it, don't read it. Difficult concept to be sure._

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"I'm going! Don't try and stop me!" Kate warned Olga.

"I'm not. I want you to go there with your head on and thinking straight. People who fight with emotions always make mistakes which might end up fatal." Olga could recognize that Kate wasn't going to listen to her. "I'm also driving you to the airport."

Kate calmed down as she stuffed something else into her bag. "Thanks." She really didn't want to fight with her.

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"This isn't the way to the airport," Kate pointed, certain that Olga wasn't going the right way. "This is the way to the charter desk." She'd bought a very expensive ticket at the last minute to get from New York to California.

"Very good." Kate was paying attention. Olga just kept on driving until she stopped outside of the building Kate now knew well enough.

Olga handed over a piece of paper. "Here's your chartered flight. They should be waiting for you." Olga watched as Kate took it. "And take this. This is your rental car when you get there. I'm not allowing you to rent a Ford Pinto or some other deathtrap."

Kate rolled her eyes and said, "They don't make those any more," and saw Olga glare at her. "Thanks." Kate took it, too.

"Remember, think with this," Olga tapped her head, "and not with this." She touched Kate's chest with her finger. "Not this time anyway. …And remember, I love you."

Kate relaxed and leaned across to kiss her. "I love you, too." Kate got out of the car and ran to the building.

Olga sat there for a moment in shock. "You what!?" She scrambled out of her car. "Say that again!" she yelled at her but watched her enter the building without saying anything. Olga stood there in shock.

"You hurt her and I'll hunt you down and make you suffer like you've never suffered before." Olga was filled with love and dark thoughts for the man Kate was after.

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Kate was literally escorted to her waiting jet where she met her pilot who was waiting for her. Once again she showed him her identification and her ticket. "California, here we come. After you." He let Kate go first. She nodded her thanks and climbed in, stopping dead in her tracks.

"Charter flight!?" Kate moved just enough to allow the pilot to board the plane, close the door, then go into the cockpit. This was way better than the economy ticket she'd purchased and was sure she wasn't going to enjoy. They hadn't even said a thing about the weapon that she had packed away.

She heard each engine fire up then eventually they were taxiing down to the runway. "Buckle up back there, we're next," Kate heard over the speakers.

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Kate wasn't used to landing and stopping in an area that wasn't an airline. She had no idea just where to go. "I have a rental car." She showed the lady her card and was told how to reach it.

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Kate handed her card to the man at the counter and watched him start typing. "Ms. Beckett. Regrettably we don't have the Ferrari 488 Spyder that you reserved. I can let you have your choice. A Porsche 911 GT2 RS or a Chevrolet Corvette ZR1." He stood there and looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to make her choice.

Kate stood there in shock, still trying to catch up to all that he had said. She knew her mouth was opening and closing but nothing was coming out.

"I can contact you when the Ferrari is available." He was thinking she didn't like her choices.

"You don't have something simpler?" She was thinking something like a Toyota anything.

"I can look for something else." He began typing again. "I have a Rolls Royce Ghost that I can let you have for the same price as the Ferrari until I have one available."

Kate's mind was still working on catching up. "I'm going to kill her." This was all Olga's fault.

"Ma'am?" He had no idea what she was talking about.

"I'll take the Porsche, I guess." She had seen 911s before and it didn't sound so bad.

"The GPS is built into the car, you have unlimited mileage, your insurance and costs are already covered. Here's your car registration. Just call this number if you have any issues with the car at all. If it can't be repaired immediately we'll replace it. When you go out into the parking lot there'll be someone to show you to your car. Thank you for renting with us. I trust you will have a nice stay here in California." He gestured to a pair of glass doors.

Kate handed him her paperwork. "Porsche luxury model." He searched for something and handed her a fob. "It's the white and black one in space A6."

She walked until she saw the only white and black car she could see. "Glad I didn't take the Vette." It was yellow with a little black and a black top. It just looked mean just sitting there.

However, when she made it to the Porsche she stopped dead in her tracks. "This is _not_ a Porsche." It didn't look anything like any 911 she had ever seen.

"This is the wrong car," Kate yelled at the attendant who ignored her. "I am so going to kill her."

It was mostly white, had two big black stripes, and a huge spoiler on the rear. She pressed unlock on the fob and opened the driver's side door, getting in after throwing her bag onto the passenger seat.

"It doesn't even have a key!" For the first time she looks at the fob she had been given. She did see a red start and stop button. That at least looked familiar.

With the door closed, her foot on the clutch, she pressed start. She listened to it fire up and rumble back at her. She watched as lights lit up all over. "It's a damn military fighter!" She didn't even know what to do with the fob so she put it in her bag.

"HOLY SHIT!" She had just left behind rubber and she hadn't even gotten out of the garage yet.

Her GPS was telling her where to go and once she was out of the garage and on her way she started smiling. Maybe she would kiss Olga instead of killing her. This thing was amazing!

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Olga watched as Kate strode out of the building after her plane had landed. She thought she looked happy…maybe. At least she looked to be in one piece. Then she watched as she got in the car and dropped her bag on the floor.

"So how did it go?" Olga asked. She was a little surprised when Kate grabbed her head and kissed her. Olga was smiling at her when she broke from the kiss.

"I'm going to kill you," Kate informed her.

"What did I do?" All she had done was kiss her. She had kissed her a lot so why was this time different?

"You call that a plane? It was a flying mansion." The plane back had been just as bad or nice depending on your point of view.

"You didn't like it? It was the same plane I always use. It's nice." Olga kept driving. "Did you at least like the car? It was a Ferrari." Olga was sure she would like the car.

"They didn't have a Ferrari. I got a Porsche 911 GT2 instead," Kate told her.

Olga was quiet then looked at Kate for a moment. "You're yanking my chain." She watched Kate grin wide. "Just for that I'm going to tie you to the bed tonight."

Kate turned to look at Olga with excitement written all over her face. "You promise?"

"Right after I spank you." Kate was playing with her. "At least tell me you got your man."

"Yeah, I did." She hadn't even been forced to kill him. He was going to live his life in prison.

"You loved him." Kate had clearly cared for him.

"In a way. He was my training officer. I was just a rookie and I was lost. I was starting to think I had made a really big mistake. He righted everything for me. Then he went and did something stupid." She still couldn't believe he'd turned on her. He had gone bad.

"Just take me home." She'd had enough.

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Olga had never seen the man before but he didn't look like a threat. Besides Kate was at work so she opened the door. "Can I help you?"

"I hope so. I'm Jim Beckett, Katie's father." Olga couldn't have been more surprised.

Both were now sitting in the living room with that ceiling above them.

"I feel like I already know you. I talk to Katie and she tells me she's in love but that I wouldn't understand. Took a lot to get a name and address out of her. So, how's she holding up?" Jim was here for just one thing. To stop his daughter before she got herself killed.

"You know Kate, nothing gets to her. At least not that she would ever admit to," Olga said.

"She wouldn't even accept a night light when she was little. It wasn't that she was afraid of the dark. I think it was just a point of pride that she stare it down." Then they both were quiet.

"This man she's chasing. …How dangerous is he?" Jim greatly feared what she was going to say.

"He's a trained killer," Olga admitted. She had beaten him and yet he was still alive and causing trouble. Of that she had no doubt.

"What happens when she finds him? I've already lost my wife over this. I've already lost…" He was sure he had lost years with his daughter that he was never going to get back. "I've made my peace with this. But Katie, she won't listen to me. She won't listen to anyone unless she finds someone who can convince her that her life is worth more than her mother's death. "

Jim had basically said his piece. "She loves you. She may not have recognized it yet, but she does. I'm betting that you love her, too. Maybe she'll listen to you." Jim was done and it was time to leave.

Olga, though, wasn't done with him yet. "Jim, wait." She caught him at the front door.

"I can't tell you much. I've already put three rounds in this guy and he's not the one we need to worry about. He's just a hired killer. I can handle him easily. It's the guy who hired him that's the problem.

This guy, while he is trained, is a Boy Scout compared to me. I'm going to help her and we're going to get this guy. If I'm right about this mystery man, he's killed his way to where he is now and he's only too willing to kill anyone that gets in his way. That means you. He has secrets and he will kill anyone that gets too close to his secrets. To get Kate to stop he'll threaten her with your life.

"We're already in too far to stop now. This mystery man will have whoever he has to, killed. I know the type only too well. ... They'll kill Kate over my dead body. Just keep your eyes open." Olga had told him all she could.

"Sounds like Katie has found the right person to give her hardened heart to. Just don't die on her. It'll crush what's left of her." Jim had said all he needed to say and had learned just as much.

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Olga was in the kitchen getting started on dinner when Kate entered and headed straight for the bottle. "Ooo, you look serious."

"Yeah. …Someone got Lockwood transferred to general population then he promptly killed McAlister." Kate had only just started and pulled out a glass.

"With only one arm?" She had put two maybe three rounds in that arm. "For him to do that means McAlister let him kill him." Olga didn't like the sound of that.

"They sent him to court to have him arraigned on murder charges. Those same three cops that weren't actually cops used flash bangs to break him out and into a waiting helicopter that had been stolen." Kate downed her glass.

"There's a third cop out there somewhere. I'm not sure this Dragon is doing anything. I'm starting to think it's this third cop. Whoever he is." Kate poured another drink.

"The third one at Bob Armen's murder that Pulgatti told you about. Just to hire all these hired killers means he has access to a lot of money," Olga said, wondering what would help her.

"Except the money to get McAlister moved went to a guard that got paid then had a round put in the back of his head. Fifty thousand dollars and a bullet. From the UAE through a Swiss bank in Dubai. Good luck finding that money," Kate scowled.

"For you maybe." Olga, though, had different contacts.

That had Kate looking at her. "Are you saying you can trace the money?"

"I do it all the time. You keep forgetting what I do for a living. I just don't go around killing people for the money. What I do, I do with the support and orders from countries. Not individuals. Unless you count presidents of countries as individuals," Olga reminded her.

"You… I…I love you." Kate kissed her.

However, doing anything else was interrupted by Kate's phone ringing. She glanced at Olga. "It's Captain Montgomery."

"Sir?"

"Beckett, I think we have a lead," Roy told her.

"What did you find?" Kate was interested in any lead they had.

"Meet me at the hangar where we found that stolen copter," Roy said tersely.

"Yes, sir." Kate hung up the phone.

"I heard that." Olga couldn't help but overhear. She was standing right there. Practically with her arms still around her. "You're with me." Olga took her hand, led her outside, and down to the craft room.

Kate watched her open one of her safes. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going with you and we're both going prepared." Olga opened the first safe and took something out. "Here, put this on."

"I have a vest," Kate insisted.

"Not like these you don't." Olga took one out for herself, moved to the other safe, and opened it.

"Jeez, you planning on starting a war?" Kate saw nothing but weapons, clips, and ammunition boxes.

"Be happy that I am. Well, not technically." Olga got out both of her brand new Walther P99s then attached suppressors to each of them. And attached them to her vest after she put them on. Then she picked up her band new Tavor Tar and one spare clip.

"No suppressor for that one?" Kate asked her sarcastically.

"It's built in. Don't need to add it." Olga checked it over like she had the Walther P99s and was satisfied it was ready to go.

"Let's go. You're driving." Olga closed and locked the safes. Then locked the door, went upstairs, and activated the alarm as Kate backed the TR6 out of the garage.

"What are you expecting?" Kate didn't see the need for all this firepower. It was just her captain.

"I'm alive because I'm careful and I don't underestimate anything or anyone. That and I'm not losing you. I have plans." She saw a future for both of them. She just had to keep both of them alive to see it.

Kate wanted to tell her that she loved her, but she couldn't get the words out. So she drove to the site.

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"Drop me off here. You won't see me, but I'll be there." Olga didn't even bother to lean across and kiss her. She opened the door and ran.

Kate gave her a couple of minutes and then drove a little farther until she found a place to park.

The hangar door was wide open as Kate walked in but didn't see anyone. Then her phone bleeped telling her she had a message.

**3rd Cop, it's Montgomery**

Looking up she saw Montgomery and he had a weapon in his hand. Even worse, he put a round in the chamber. Now for the first time in her life, she really was scared. The man she trusted most in this life was a dirty cop all this time.

"Put the gun away, Roy." Kate placed her hand on her weapon.

"Kate, I'm not going to jail for this. I'm not putting my family through that." In his mind it meant court appearances that would rip his world open and destroy his family's lives.

"Why?" Kate didn't mean why this. She meant why had he done all this. All this time.

"I was a rookie at the time." Roy walked slowly toward her. "McAlister and Raglan were heroes to me. I believed in what we were doing. We were supposed to snatch Pulgatti. Bob Armen wasn't even supposed to be there. Armen reached for my gun. I didn't even know it was my gun when it went off until Armen went down. Then McAlister pulled me into the van.

"I remember him saying, 'It's okay kid, it's not your fault. Happens in this town every day.' Then Raglan tried to drown himself in alcohol. But not me. I put it all into the job. Tried to be the best cop I could ever be. And then when you walked into the 12th." Roy was ready to cry.

"It was the hand of God. I knew he was giving me another chance." Roy spread his arms wide. "I thought I could protect you the way I should have protected her." Roy was sure it was a gift.

Kate got right to the point. "Did you kill my mother?"

"No, that was years later. But she died because of what we did that night." Roy pointed at the concrete.

"Who killed her?" If he didn't, Kate knew that he knew who did.

"I don't know how, but he figured it all out. He could have turned us all in. Except all he did was demand the ransom money. He took that money and became what he is. And may God forgive me but that might be my greatest sin."

"Give me a name. You owe me that, Roy." Kate moved a step closer to him.

"I know you'll run straight at him. I might as will shoot you where you stand." He knew Kate would go running and not think. She never did when it came to her mother's case. It was her greatest weakness.

"That's why you brought me here, isn't it? To kill me." Kate growled it out since she hated his guts now.

"No, I brought you here to lure them," Roy insisted.

"You baited them?" Maybe he wasn't quite that bad.

"And they're coming." Roy turned to look as did Kate. "They're coming to kill you and I'm going to end this."

"I'm not going anywhere." Kate needed a name; she had never gotten this close before. "Besides, I have help." Olga had sworn she would be out there and she was trusting that she was.

"Get behind the plane. Make it last. Let them come in." Kate looked at Roy then out at the car. Out there somewhere was Olga so she ran and ended up on her stomach as she slid.

Four men got out of the SUV. "Where is she, Roy?" Lockwood was part of the four and his bad arm wasn't in a sling any longer.

"You can't have her," Roy said.

"I TOLD YOU! It was her or your family," Lockwood snarled.

Just then his three men fell to the ground without a sound except for them falling. Lockwood pulled out a weapon. But just as he did he got shot in his right arm. Followed by another one to his right arm.

Roy hadn't heard a shot. Not a single one so it wasn't Kate and it certainly wasn't him.

Roy stepped forward and kicked Lockwood's gun away from him. It skittered under the helicopter and kept going.

"I told you you couldn't have her." Roy didn't know how but his three men were dead with head wounds with no sound and Lockwood was on the ground trying to hold his right arm from rounds that he also hadn't heard being shot.

"You don't know what you've done. You, her, and your family are all dead. You really think it's just me?" Lockwood knew something he didn't.

"I do know that you can't do anything any longer." Without hesitating Roy put a round in his head.


	12. Chapter 12

**Moving On**

_Chapter 12_

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_It's Duck Season, Rabbit Season, Duck Season, Rabbit Season, Guest Season._

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Kate had joined Roy who was still standing over the body of Lockwood. "You want to tell me what happened here?" Roy asked Kate since his plan had been to kill everyone and probably die doing it.

"You want to tell me who killed my mother?" Kate countered.

"He's too big for you, Kate. Also far too powerful for you to take down. I know you. Instead of doing an investigation like you would any murder suspect, you'll run right at him and get yourself killed." Roy shook his head. He wasn't telling her any name.

Movement caught Roy's eye and he raised his weapon. Kate also raised hers and pointed it at him. "Don't." Kate hadn't looked but she could just feel who it was. Kate watched Roy lower his weapon getting Kate to lower hers.

They both watched as a woman walked in wearing an interesting vest that just happened to be a match for the one Kate was wearing. She was also carrying in two hands a very interesting weapon. One he wasn't familiar with.

"Someone want to tell me what's going on around here." Roy thought he had it all planned out and yet nothing went like he'd planned it. Only he saw the new arrival point her weapon at him.

"Give it to Kate," Olga told Roy and narrowed her eyes when he delayed until he did. "And the spare." Olga was no fool. She watched him take out something that looked like a derringer and hand it to Kate.

"You all right?" Olga looked Kate over and didn't see any blood.

"Yeah." Kate tried again. "Roy here was just about to tell me who killed my mother."

"I already told you, Kate. You're the best. The best I've ever seen. But when it comes to your mother you lose it and throw everything you've been taught away. He _will_ kill you." Roy still wasn't going to give her a name.

"He has a point," Olga added based on what she had learned.

"He killed my mother!" Kate pointed her weapon at Roy for a moment. They each knew she didn't mean Roy himself.

"Yes, and if he's as powerful and connected as I'm thinking, you're dead. Standing next to your car just as a round enters your head. Or have you forgotten Raglan already? Or walking down the sidewalk to a crime scene phoned in by an anonymous tip and a car blows up right next to you.

"Or your dad gets something in the mail. A mysterious white powder perhaps, with a note or maybe a picture of you sitting somewhere. Or maybe you're working late and the floor you're on is almost empty and suddenly a round enters the back of your head. Or have you forgotten how Coonan died as well?" Olga could think of all kinds of ways to kill Kate and those were just a few.

"So what am I supposed to do?" Olga had reached her and she felt defeated even if she was closer than she ever had been before.

Roy spoke up. "Your job, Kate."

"You have a suspect," Olga began. "What do you do first? What's the very first thing you do?"

Kate was still feeling defeated. "Gather evidence." She couldn't arrest him without it. Her best lead was dead on the floor.

"Very good. Maybe there's hope for you after all." Olga liked what she was hearing. "What do we do with him?" Olga pointed her weapon at Roy for a moment.

"I still can't let my family go through me going to jail," Roy insisted.

"You may not have to," Olga commented.

"He's killed someone. He's obstructed justice and I can't even begin to count the things he's done to obstruct any case he's been involved with." Kate didn't understand how he wasn't going to jail. And he was involved with her mother's murder. Roy was now just another dirty cop. One that she had trusted with her life.

"Perhaps. …However he has a get out of jail free card. He has a name," Olga told both of them. But she also saw the look Kate was giving her. "Lost you already?" Suddenly she was disappointed in her.

"I've told you before that you think in black and white. I work in the gray areas of governments. The guy you're after is powerful and likely has connections and access to more hired killers. Someone like that can be very embarrassing for certain people and governments. If they find themselves connected to him in any way as things go south and their lives are over or their chances of getting reelected are over.

"In exchange for the name he gets to go free. It might not be the life he's been living, but he and his family will be alive." Olga didn't know that for sure, but she had seen enough to think it might work.

"I have to go," Olga told her. She had done her job and Kate and Roy were alive. "Do your job the way you're supposed to. Arrest him, call it in and be ready. All hell's about to break loose." Olga didn't bother kissing her, she just left and headed where she saw Kate park her car.

"Turn around, Roy, you're under arrest. Don't make me shoot you." Kate cuffed him and called it in.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate couldn't explain the three dead men with head wounds and Roy kept his mouth closed and waited for his lawyer.

By the time Kate finally made it back to the precinct there were people all over the place. Espo and Ryan both looked like their wives had just been killed.

"I can't believe it." Ryan knew it was Montgomery.

"Where is he?" Espo wanted to take him apart. He had already fought Ryan over it until it had finally sunk in that Montgomery was the third dirty cop.

Before Kate could say anything the police commissioner walked in. He temporarily took over and ordered everyone not to talk about anything they knew. He wanted written reports about everything everyone had done and they didn't get to go home until they were done.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Olga was waiting for her. "Bad?" She could guess it had been worse than bad.

"Bad. The police commissioner basically shut down the precinct. We had to write up reports then be interrogated by Internal Affairs over what we'd done, what we knew, and when we knew it. We were forbidden to discuss any of it with anyone." Kate made it only as far as the living room since she had come in through the front door after parking in the driveway on the side.

"I already know most of it. You can tell me." Olga kissed her head. "I'll get us both a drink."

"They've worked out that those three men were shot from outside and now they're looking for that person and where he was located," Kate warned her.

"Hm, good luck with that. Here." Olga handed her a glass. "Try not to…" Olga was going to tell her not to chug it down, to sip it instead. But she was already too late. So she took the empty glass, handed Kate hers, and went to refill Kate's for her to have.

"You know what to do. Right?" Olga needed to make sure she was thinking with her head.

"Work on gathering evidence. If the new captain will let me." They were presently without one. That wouldn't last long, though.

"Like that's ever stopped you before." Olga rolled her eyes which had Kate grinning.

"What I need is a name. I don't even know who I'm trying to find evidence against!" With Lockwood dead and Roy taken away, she didn't have anyone to interrogate.

"Come with me." Olga got up and walked to her office. Once there Kate was standing behind her with her glass and it wasn't empty yet.

"Raglan, McAlister, and Montgomery were involved in kidnapping mobsters then ransoming them for the mob to get their guy back, right?" Kate watched as Olga had a picture of each of them on her monitor.

"Nineteen years ago something went wrong and the three of them pinned it on Pulgatti." Olga kept up the timeline.

"Then my mother comes along and investigates Pulgatti's conviction which got her killed." It didn't sound like worth killing anyone over to her.

"Roy said something about ransom money that had been taken from them and whoever he is, he used that money to be what he is today," Kate added.

"Okay, so 19 years ago our guy was basically a nobody. However, that money helped to make him somebody." Olga said.

Kate remembered something else. "Roy said instead of arresting them he blackmailed them for the ransom money."

"Now that helps. So who had enough power to find out and arrest them but didn't?" Olga needed Kate's help for this part.

Kate sighed and thought about it. "Prosecutors, the police commissioner, the mayor, the DA, and judges, maybe."

"So we need names for all of those 19 years ago." Olga typed for about five minutes then sat back.

"What are you doing?" She had literally stopped.

"It's a program I have. It's going to create a list of names as it searches 19 years ago. This may take a little while," Olga warned her. "You tired?" She would send her to bed if she was.

"Not really. I probably should be but I'm not." Kate's life was too big of a mess right now to sleep.

"Good, I need you for a fitting. Craft room," Olga told her and downstairs they went.

Kate had stripped naked and was now wearing what Olga had told her to put on. It clearly didn't fit her properly yet.

"Is that what you're making?" Kate saw something on one of her tables that looked a lot like what she was wearing. Only to watch as Olga turned it upside down on her.

"No peeking," Olga scolded which made Kate smile for the first time in what felt like days to her.

"So who do you think it is?" Kate asked her while she worked.

"Someone who's dangerous. He has gained access to what are likely ex-military that are now hired killers." Olga didn't like that part.

"Espo said that when Lockwood had them he was demanding to know what the police knew about him and his employer." Kate watched as Olga stopped working after that.

"Now that's interesting." Olga had to think about that.

"And?" Kate didn't see anything.

Olga shared what she was thinking now. "It means our guy has let his hired killers know who he is and likely what he's trying to do or is doing. The best way to keep a secret is to make sure very few or even better no one knows anything about your secrets."

Kate was following her. "When he doesn't need them any longer…"

"They'll have to die if he wants to make sure his secrets remain a secret," Olga said.

"So he hires a killer to kill his killers?" That didn't even make sense to Kate after she said it.

"What if his new killers didn't know who they were killing or why?" Olga suggested and got back to work on Kate's dress.

"How does that work?" Kate suddenly wasn't following.

"Think Wild West. You put out a wanted poster for a killer. Dead or alive," Olga said.

Kate thought about all those Hollywood movies. "A bounty hunter hunts him down and takes him dead or alive to get the money." Kate was following that. "So who's the bounty hunter?"

"OW!" Olga had poked her with a pin.

"Sorry. I'll kiss it and make it feel better later," Olga promised and kept working.

"Better kiss more than that part of me," Kate grinned.

"Count on it." Olga looked up at her and smiled wide. "These days bounty hunters come in all shapes and sizes." Olga went back to work on the dress. "Israel has the Mossad. Russia has the KGB. Every country has someone. Even the United States."

"Meaning you." Olga had said she did things for governments.

Olga stopped working and looked up at her. "Please don't dump me in the same pot as the guy we're after," she begged her. "I work for governments. Meaning a president or prime minister has offered me a job. Yes, they pay me but I'm not doing this for some sick cause that your guy's doing. I've turned down jobs for various reasons and I still will."

"I'm not." Kate saw her still looking up at her. "I promise I'm not. But if they offered you the job?" Kate asked her.

"I would politely tell them to go to hell," Olga said. "Keep in mind, though, if I say no they'll just find someone who'll say yes. He'll end up dead before you can watch him rot in prison or even get there." She wasn't the only person who did this kind of work.

"Presidents ordering people to be killed." Kate hated the idea of it.

"Remember, gray areas. You wouldn't like my job or even one like it if you can't handle these gray areas," Olga cautioned her.

Kate wanted to complain about secrets. It was just that she had some of her own. Some of which weren't really secrets. She just chose not to talk about them which made them secrets by default.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Four weeks later and the precinct still hadn't really settled down. They did have a new captain, though.

Kate and the others had watched her march into the office that no longer said Roy Montgomery anywhere. Kate had been in the breakroom with Espo and Ryan, getting coffee. Or at least what passed for coffee here.

"Cast Iron Gates. She's from Internal Affairs. She hates all cops with a passion." Espo had heard about her. "Strictly by the book. Tap your pencil the wrong way and she'll suspend you." Espo was exaggerating and they all knew it but he'd gotten his point across.

Kate had still been in the breakroom when she had yelled out her name and ordered her into her office.

She had wasted no time in berating Montgomery and how he had handled this precinct. He was just another stinking dirty cop like they all were.

She had warned Kate that if she found out she was investigating something she hadn't been ordered to she wouldn't just be disciplined. She would be suspended pending a hearing to see if she should be fired.

Also, it wasn't ma'am. It was sir or captain. As if she was a man instead of a woman.

She had at least sounded impressed with Kate's rapid rise to lead detective. She had even beat Gates's record.

However, for the last two weeks they hadn't even left the precinct on any cases. They were stuck going over everything Roy had done and done wrong.

"I told you. …Cast Iron," Espo pointed out as he opened yet another folder to go through.

Then things got even more interesting. Kate answered her ringing phone. "Beckett." And listened to what she was told. "Who?" And then listened. "Send her up." Kate had no clue as to why she was here.

Kate was waiting and watching as a young woman with long orange hair came out of the elevator and walked right to her after being spotted.

"Detective Beckett?" Alexis had to make sure.

"What can I help you with, Alexis?" Kate couldn't think of anything.

"May I?" Alexis pointed at the empty chair next to her desk and watched as she sat down.

"I have a favor to ask you. Please hear me out. …I want your permission for my dad to follow you around as you work on cases so he can learn how it's done," Alexis said.

Kate had no idea why she was here but this wasn't one of her guesses. In fact it hadn't even come close. "No." Kate had no intention of letting that jackass follow her anywhere.

"Please. Dad killed Derek Storm three years ago and he hasn't written anything since then. Black Pawn is ready to drop him completely. He's sold the house in the Hamptons. He sold his Ferrari and the Mercedes. Now he has a…Chevy Malibu." Alexis hated the car. It wasn't her dad. It was a piece of junk. "I think the loft is next." She'd lost one home and was truly afraid that she was about to lose another.

"Why would I want to let him do this?" Kate was still firmly in the no camp.

"I got Dad to tell me that he had an idea for a new character but he doesn't know what to do. He needs to learn police procedure to make her feel real," Alexis explained.

"Her?" Kate was really starting to hate this idea now and watched Alexis nod.

"Please. He told me how stupid he had been last time. If he gets under your skin or even comes close to what he did last time you can throw him out and I'll understand. And if you call me first I can lean on him to get him to stop and issue an apology.

"Dad needs to start writing again. It's who he is. It's what he does. Please." There Alexis had said her piece.

"Does your dad know that you're here?" Kate inquired.

"Not a chance." Alexis knew her limits and her dad would be pissed as hell at her.

Kate sighed. She was a fan of his books. Even if she wasn't a fan of the man. If he never wrote again she wouldn't have another Richard Castle book to read.

"Even if I said yes I would never get it past our new captain." She was so by the book that she couldn't see past it to anything else. Castle would get tossed out on his ear in a heartbeat.

"I've already taken care of her. She's about to find out that she doesn't have a choice. Something I don't understand has happened around here lately and she isn't going to be given a choice," Alexis told her.

That had Kate looking at her new captain who was just now picking up her phone. As Kate watched she saw the color of her face change. She wasn't just angry, she was furious. Then she slammed her phone down.

"I think she just got the word. You'd better run." Or Gates may have her locked up in holding just for the fun of it.

"You'll do it?" Alexis asked but didn't get up.

Her new captain was clearly an ass and if this pissed her off even more… "Yes. Now get moving while you still can and we're both still out of jail."

"Thank you! Remember if Dad gets to be too much, call me. I'll set him straight." Alexis turned to look behind her then ran to the elevator.

"**BECKETT! MY OFFICE. …NOW!**"Gates was going to take out her anger about that phone call by taking off some of Kate's skin.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate had a lot to tell Olga tonight as she walked into what had become her home even if she did still have her apartment. It was just that damn little was still in it save for the furniture and everything in the kitchen. Everything else was here.

"Hi, you're never going to believe what happened today." Kate hadn't told her about Castle supposedly being her first love and there was no way in hell she was ever going to tell anyone. But letting him follow her around was going to be a really big thing.

"Hold that thought." Olga held up a finger after they kissed and went to their bedroom.

"Your program has finally finished?" Good God that thing had taken its time.

"That too, but this first," Olga called over her shoulder.

When she came back Kate could tell she was hiding something behind her back.

"I love you," Olga told her quietly.

"I love you, too." Kate had finally accepted that she actually loved someone who loved her back. Except for her mother's killer, her life hadn't been this good since before her death.

Then suddenly Kate watched as she brought what was behind her back out in front of her for Kate to see. What Kate saw had her heart stopping in mid-beat then start pounding in her chest.

It was an engagement ring box. "You…you… You're asking me… You're asking…" Kate couldn't finish. Besides not being able to suddenly see the box clearly because of her tears, most of her voice was trapped in her throat.

"I'm officially a female and New York allows same sex marriages as of last year. So, will you marry me, Kate?" Olga flipped the box open for her to see the ring.

It was a stone Kate had never seen before. It was oval, a soft green with a smaller oval of purple around the heart of the stone. It was set in what Kate thought was white gold with a pair of small emerald cut diamonds on either side of of the stone. It was the most beautiful ring Kate had ever seen.

Olga knew the stone wasn't expensive. It was a mystic topaz that was about a carat and a half. The small diamonds were about a quarter carat each. But the setting was platinum, not white gold. She chose the stone knowing Kate would want to reciprocate. Even more, she chose the stone because it was Kate's heart. The green matched the green of Kate's hazel eyes and had a purple that Olga believed was the color of Kate's soul.


	13. Chapter 13

**Moving On**

_Chapter 13_

"It's about time." Kate followed Olga upstairs to her office.

"We're not up here just for that," Olga told her. Kate was confused. "Here's the printout of all the names." Olga held them out and Kate used her left hand that now had a ring on her ring finger to take them and look through them.

"Oh, boy." She had never thought it could be this many people. "How do we get this down to something more manageable?" It could take them months to go through this list. And with Gates in charge it might take years while trying to do it behind her back.

"One more thing." Olga looked through the file she had on her computer and brought up a picture. "What do you think?"

"It's a boat." Kate stated the obvious.

"It's a ship but yeah, a boat. This is my dream," Olga said.

"Owning a boat? Lots of people own boats." Though Kate had to admit that as boats went it looked a little big. Not one of those giant mega yachts that the ungodly super rich owned but still big.

"I was thinking of retiring. Selling the house, the car, and anything else I had to to purchase it and live on it."

Kate stared at it. Her fiancée that she was going to marry wanted to sell the house they were living in and sell the car she hadn't even gotten to drive yet and live on a boat.

"A little cold around here to be living on a boat, isn't it?" Kate said since she wasn't a fan of this idea.

"Here, yes. Just not so much in Honolulu," Olga pointed out.

"Hono– Hawaii? You want to sell everything and move to Hawaii?" It wasn't that Kate hated the idea. It was just that she had spent all her life in New York City. It was her home. She knew where most everything was located. She knew how to get around easily.

"Yep. No more horrible winter nights. No more blackouts or brownouts. No more smog or dirty air. No more sirens of police cars, ambulances, or fire trucks screaming by. No more trash in the streets or garbage truck strikes. No more random muggings or drive by shootings." Olga offered a lot of the pros for moving.

"Hawaii is expensive." Everything had to be shipped in, she was pretty sure.

"New York City is expensive. How much did your place cost you again?" Olga argued.

"I have a job." If they moved she wouldn't have a job and she needed something to do with her life or she would go mad.

"Hawaii has police too, you know. You're a well-respected homicide detective from New York City. Why wouldn't they want you? And if or when you catch this guy you can work anywhere you want." Olga kept selling it.

"A boat." Kate still wasn't so sure about this plan of hers.

"It's an 80 foot power catamaran. We find a spot in a marina to park it. Ship the TR6 out and use it there for our car. Or get a second if we need one. It's powered so we don't need to learn how to sail it. Plus a brand new 80 Sunreef Power is made to order. So we can make the interior look like what we want it to look like.

"Here, take a look." Olga showed her some possible interiors then the floor plans.

"If we put the galley down in one of the pontoons we'll have four extra bedrooms. But they don't have to be bedrooms since it will be built for us. If we keep one for guests like your dad or my parents, we could turn the other three into a craft room, theater room, exercise room. Whatever we want.

"This is the master bedroom area." Olga showed her that floor plan."It's on the bow right up front and comes with its own deck. Behind it is a salon or living room if that helps. Aft deck and garage," Olga said.

"Garage?" It was a boat not a house.

"It can hold a small two person boat. I was thinking maybe a small zodiac. If we sail somewhere for a weekend or longer we could anchor out there and use the zodiac to get to shore. Do grocery shopping with. Maybe a jet ski in addition. It's actually a ramp that's motorized. It goes down into the water to launch and recover," Olga explained. "Stairs on either side to walk down to the water's edge to do some swimming. The dining room is outside in front of the garage.

"Then the next level up is the fly bridge. Where you pilot the boat. Seating on either side. BBQ with a sink and refrigerator. Seating around a circular pool with five seats. It's covered to keep the rain out and yet let the sun in.

"Two 575 or 1200 horsepower motors. Two 1,320 gallon fuel tanks. One 422 gallon potable water tank. It's technically 78.6 feet long and can be manned by two people since its powered instead of sails." Olga went back out to a picture of the exterior of the boat.

"Hawaii." Kate was willing to admit that Hawaii sounded nice. Except she had never been there so did she want to live there?

"How much is it?" Maybe that would tell her yes or no.

Olga cringed since this might be too much for Kate. "A lot, $2,640,000. Depending on which motor combination we use and what we change the bedrooms to."

"Three million dollars!?" Kate didn't have that kind of money and was never going to have that kind of money unless she won a lottery or something.

"I have the money. Provided I sell the house and the car. The mooring fees are actually rather cheap. We just have to decide which one to stay in and find out if they have space for us." That was one of the problems. "It'll also take about a year to build it and ship it out there so we won't be moving tomorrow."

"Hawaii. …Three million dollars." Those were the three major points she could think of at the moment.

Olga tried another selling card. "Invite your friends out every year. You'll definitely get to see my parents, I can guarantee that. We could get married in Hawaii and spend our first night as…whatever we are on our own boat that can move."

"Husband and wife. …Wife and wife. …Hawaii." Kate tried again. Getting married in Hawaii sounded really, really nice. A dream come true, actually. A place that had only ever been a dream that was never going to come true.

"Did I mention that I was thinking of retiring if we moved?" Olga said.

"Retire!? No more jobs?" Okay, now Kate was seriously interested.

"Can I think about it?" She really need to think this out. It meant quitting her job, though having Gates around might want her quitting a lot sooner than she'd ever thought. And getting away from Roy, wherever he was now.

"You can think about it all night long. Right after I make love to you." Olga tilted her head back to smile up at her which had Kate kissing her upside down.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate was sitting at her desk the next morning and waiting for their first case that they would actually be allowed to work on when suddenly someone sat down in the chair next to her desk.

"Detective Beckett." Castle was all smiles.

"Mr. Castle." He looked maybe just a touch older but otherwise he looked the same. "I agreed to this, don't make me regret it," Kate warned him.

"I'll be nice. Scout's honor." Rick raised his hand.

"A scout uses three fingers which means you were never a scout." So the very first thing he did was lie to her. She was definitely going to regret this.

Rick looked at his hand. "It's the thought that counts."

Gates yelled at both of them, "**BECKETT, MR. CASTLE! **My office, now!"

"Sir." Maybe they actually finally had a real case to work.

"Mr. Castle. This is my precinct now and I don't know what Montgomery did around here but I do things by the book. I don't like it when someone, especially a civilian who has no business being here, goes behind my back and tries to force my hand." She hated Castle already and had only just met him.

"Let me make this plain so you understand. You screw up so much as once. You cause any member of this precinct not to perform their job to their highest capacity. If you so much as jaywalk I will drop this building on you and throw the book at you and even the mayor isn't going to get you out of it. Do I make myself clear?" Gates growled.

"Yes, ma'am," Rick replied.

"Call me sir or captain or you're already lying in the gutter out front of this building," Gates said with a scowl.

"Yes, ma'am…sir. Loud and clear." She may hate him now but he knew how to soften up women. He had done it all his life and he could soften her up as well.

"Here's your first case." She handed over an address. "Now get out of my office!" Gates sat down and glared at both of them since they weren't gone yet.

They retreated back to Kate's desk where she retrieved her weapon and saw that card again. She looked at it for a moment and closed the drawer.

Then suddenly Rick took her hand which only pissed Kate off; she yanked it out his grasp. "You got married." He wasn't expecting that. He was actually thinking of picking up where he'd left off and that was trying to get into her pants.

"Engaged, actually. We haven't set a date yet but we've started talking about where." Kate looked at her ring again. She was wondering if she should take it off and put it next to her mother's ring around her neck so she didn't lose it or damage it. But that would have to wait for now. "Let's go."

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"You do what I tell you to do when I tell you or you go home. Permanently or Gates will drop the building on you. She really is all by the book," Kate warned him as she drove.

"Got it." Rick really needed for this to work out. He hadn't written anything in years and he was selling what he once owned in order to keep the loft and send Alexis to college.

They were walking to the site after Kate parked. "Alexis wants to go to Stanford." Rick couldn't believe it. His little girl wanted to leave home.

"And? Stanford is a great school." Kate should know, she went there herself.

"I'm just not ready." He was going to be left home alone. Not counting his mother.

"Well she is so you two are just not on the same page," Kate commented.

"So what am I supposed to do?" Kate was a woman so maybe he could learn something from someone different.

"Let her go. Trust me, if you don't you'll just drive her away," Kate told him and got past the police tape. "Officer Hastings, what's this all about?"

"You need to see this one for yourself." Hastings let Kate and even Rick go past her.

"WOW!" Rick had never seen anything like it.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Espo was already here and Kate didn't know that.

Kate made a face. "So he was… Split right down the middle. From the top of his head all the way right down to his–" Lanie interrupted her.

"No, no, no." Rick didn't need to hear what she was going to call his man parts.

"Please, the guy was sliced in two. His unit was the least of his problems." Lanie wasn't concerned in the least.

"What was the murder weapon? A guillotine?" It was the only thing Kate could think of that would cut so cleanly.

"A sword." Lanie showed them what was a piece of it in a bag.

"Witnesses?" Kate couldn't get that lucky could she.

"Yeah, the girl our guy was assaulting. Marie Delgado." Espo pointed at her.

Kate found that she wasn't willing to talk much about anything.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"She's holding out on us." Kate was certain Ms. Delgado knew a lot.

"She doesn't want to rat out Conan who just saved her life," Rick surmised.

While Kate and Rick were talking to the victim's mother Espo and Ryan had found a possible suspect. "Tony the butcher. He works with knives."

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Rick was loving it. Kate was letting him sit in on an interrogation. Something he really needed.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Now all four of them were watching a video they'd gotten from the plant after listening and even seeing the damage that had been done to Tony.

"The recording lines up to the timing Valtiene claims of the attack." Espo checked the tape and his written memo.

Suddenly someone ran between two trucks and caught all of them by surprise. But the person was already gone by the time they stopped the tape to back it up.

"No…it can't be." Espo waited for the person to show up again.

Suddenly he ran into view and the tape was stopped. "No way!" Espo couldn't believe what he was looking at.

Rick was beside himself. "The killer's a super hero!" It was his first case and he was thrilled to pieces.

Kate was sitting there in total disbelief. Stuff like this didn't happen.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate put a printout of their suspect on Gate's desk. "Really, a super hero." Gates didn't believe it.

"Yeah, our witness from the alley confirmed that she saw this man kill our vic in the alley," Kate said and took her picture back for her files.

"Why didn't she report it?" It was something they could have used.

"She didn't think we would believe her and quite frankly she's right." Kate still wasn't sure she believed it.

"A masked vigilante on the loose, hacking people up. Tell me what your plan is to catch this guy." Gates was sure she was going to love this.

"We're looking into other murders with this MO outside of our jurisdiction. We're also looking enemies of Tyler Farris and trying to figure out where that suit and sword came from." Someone had to have made both.

"Reach out to Bellevue. They might have something to tell you. He's clearly delusional or psychotic," Gates said.

"Yes, sir." Kate started to leave.

"Keep me informed, Detective." If the press got hold of this her life would be hell.

"Yes, sir." Kate finally left and was glad to be gone. Working here wasn't nearly as fun as it used to be.

Kate listened to Castle go off the deep end about super heroes and their special powers. "None of that helps in catching a killer, Mr. Castle." And watched him walk away.

"What's with him?" Espo had yet to ask why he was even there, but with Gates around he didn't need the attention.

"Something about spidey senses and tingling." It was stupid just like she had anticipated it would be. Kate took a folder from Espo and listened to what he had.

Next they all listened to Castle explain that the costume was taken from all of these comic book super heroes. While neither Espo, Ryan, or Kate were buying any of it, it got worse when Gates showed up with a cup of coffee.

"Mr. Castle, how does any of this produce even one USEFUL conclusion that might actually be of any help in catching our killer?" Gates was even less taken in by anything Castle had just said.

"It means our killer is a comic book reader and collector. And in this city there's only one place our killer will definitely have visited," Rick said as proof that he was helping.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"You know, Mr. Castle, you might want to tone down your wild useless theories until Gates actually warms up to you if you want this to last long." Kate was actually warning him and didn't have a clue why.

"Oh, I intend on melting Captain Permafrost by solving this case." He had to if he was going to stay and get the inspiration he needed for his new character.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate couldn't believe it. They were leaving the comic book shop and had actually learned something. A comic book not well known had the exact copy of the suit their killer was using. They even had a name on who was drawing it and distributing it. Castle was actually helping.

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"What the hell just happened?" Their killer was speeding away on a motorcycle after finding a possible clue at the crime scene that had been overlooked.

"Our super hero," Rick stated unequivocally and was totally and thoroughly impressed to the max.

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Now they were both bursting through a door and finding a dressed up super hero playing with his just purchased samurai sword that Espo had tracked down.

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"This man, he's our killer?" Gate questioned as she, Kate and Rick were watching him doing kicks and punches while in the interrogation room. Gates didn't see it.

"Well to be honest he was a lot more imposing in a dark alley." Even Rick had to admit he looked like a stupid kid wearing a costume.

"He lives four blocks away from the crime scene and we're going through his apartment at this moment." He was all Kate had at the moment.

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"I told the mayor that we had our killer," Gates told Kate.

"Maybe you shouldn't have done that…, sir," Kate said, poker-faced.

"What I shouldn't have done is place any faith in you, Detective, or that, that…" She didn't know what to call Castle. "Get out!" She now looked like a fool because of a supposedly brilliant detective that Montgomery had left glowing reviews about.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Uh-oh," Olga said as Kate came through the door.

"I hate my job," Kate fumed and threw everything she had on her somewhere instead of on her. "Correction, I hate Gates. I'm guilty before I even had a chance. She literally insulted me to my face."

Olga went over to her, held her, and rubbed her hands across her back. "What can I do?"

"Kill Gates." Not that she really meant it.

"I'm not that kind of hired killer. So do I put the house up for sale and the car?" Was she willing to listen and maybe do her plan now?

"Move to Hawaii when neither of us actually have a job to go there for." Kate didn't like that part. It meant spending money with no money coming in. If Olga retired and stayed retired did that mean they would be living off of her income?

"Don't hate me," Olga pleaded and Kate immediately stepped back out of her arms.

"What have you done?" Had she actually sold either of them without her consent? Kate was going to kill her.

"I did a job search and made a call for you. They're several hours behind us. Its still daylight over there and everything's still open." Olga left her, retrieved a piece of paper from the island countertop, and handed it to her. "They want to talk to you when you have a moment."

Kate looked at it but it didn't really tell her much. It was mostly just a name, what his rank was and where he was located along with his phone number. "He's in Honolulu and they're interested. You can use my office to call him. It's not much past lunch there at the moment."

"I haven't learned who killed my mother yet." It was the prime thing she still needed to do. The most important thing.

"Roy isn't going to give anyone a name until he's made a deal first and the chances of you being told the name…" Olga didn't think they were all that good. "Have you looked at the list I created?"

"Yeah." It was a big list and Kate didn't like that. She had yet to figure out how to reduce that list to something more manageable.

"They aren't offering you a job yet. They just want to talk. Seeing you in person means a really long plane ride. Even my charter plane can't fly that far so you're going to have to take a commercial flight. And I haven't even ordered the boat yet and it won't be ready for at least a year.

"Talk to them. What have you got to lose?" Olga asked.

Gates had all but fired her today and all she was doing was her job. It wasn't her fault Gates had opened up her big mouth. "A year?" Kate was actually thinking about it.

"For the boat, yes. But we can always find an apartment to live in while we wait. Go call them." Olga began pushing her toward the stairs. "Get them to tell you about the job and maybe they'll tell you what they'll pay you. Just tell them the truth." Olga kept pushing until Kate started up the stairs.

Thirty minutes later Kate was coming back down while Olga was busy working on dinner. Olga was dying to learn what they had said, provided that Kate had actually called them. However, she tried something else instead. "So besides Iron Gates hating you, what was your day like?" Had she finally gotten a case and what was the case?

"Gates gave us a case finally." Kate rolled her eyes since it was far too amazing to believe. "There's apparently a costumed vigilante running around saving people from bad guys. Our victim was literally sliced in half from head to…there."

"OUCH! You actually had a dead body that was…in two pieces?" Olga wasn't sure just what to believe.

"Yep, right down the middle. One leg and body over there and the other over there," Kate gestured. "We've even got the killer in costume from a previous attack."

"Seriously? Did you bring pictures?" Olga would love to see this.

Kate shook her head. "It's on ongoing case. I can't."

"Secrets," Olga said.

"Procedure," Kate countered. "Oh, and Mr. Castle started today. He was…almost useful." He had at least gotten them to the comic book store.

"The jackass? Maybe he's changed his tune," Olga mused. "So what did they say?" Olga finally asked since she couldn't contain herself any longer.

"They're interested. We set up another phone interview time for later this week," Kate admitted and Olga actually squealed. "I'll place the order for the boat and send in a down payment. They're going to start wanting design parameters from us soon. Though likely not for several weeks." Olga was really happy.

"I hope this is a good idea." She loved Olga but moving to Hawaii was a really big step.

"It'll be great, you'll see. I'll get started on that list tomorrow and try and whittle it down some," Olga promised. Without the name Roy knew they were going to have to do it the hard way.


	14. Chapter 14

**Moving On**

_Chapter 14_

Olga had an idea about softening Kate's new boss a little and the best way to do that was to feed her. So she had a box full of lunch and was downstairs.

Kate picked up her ringing phone. "Beckett." She listened for a moment. "Send her up." This time Kate was up and waiting at the elevator. However when the door opened she couldn't hug her and kiss her since she was carrying a big box.

"What's this?" Kate reached out her arms to take it from her but Olga didn't let go.

Olga explained her plan. "I brought lunch. I was thinking that maybe it would help to soften up your new captain."

"Good luck with that." Kate was pretty sure nothing could soften any part of her. "Breakroom is this way."

Olga had been here just once and she hadn't really looked the place over. This time she did.

She spotted Kate's desk easily enough and saw a man sitting next to it who was watching her intently with eyes that said she was now walking naked. All she knew about him was what Kate told her. Then she saw Espo and Ryan who were also watching her but not like Castle was.

Olga unpacked her box. "I brought different rice bowls, plastic forks, and drinks."

Kate kissed her cheek and went back out into the bullpen. "Olga brought lunch. Help yourself guys. …You too, Castle." Kate left them all behind to go include Gates.

Espo was sold. "You're going to have to show up more often."

Ryan smiled at her. "Yeah, no one brings us lunch." Both of them started reading what was on top to find out what was under the lid.

"I'm Rick." He took her left hand to kiss it and found a ring before he could finish.

"Kate's told me all about you." Olga let him sweat a moment. "I'm Olga…, Kate's fiancée." She smiled as she saw the shock on his face.

"Fiancée." Rick wasn't expecting Kate's fiancée to be a woman.

"I can see Kate was right about you," Olga stated.

"Got you good on that one, Castle." Espo was willing to take Castle down a notch or two.

"Restroom? I need to wash up a little," Olga queried and went where Espo told her.

"She's a woman." Rick hadn't gotten past that part yet.

"Very good, Castle." Espo took his lunch choice and drink back to his desk.

"Your eyesight is 20/20 there, Castle." Ryan followed his partner.

Kate watched as Gates selected her lunch choice then something to drink. "Thank you, Detective, this was very kind of you."

"Actually it was compliments of my fiancée, sir." Kate didn't have any idea she was doing this.

"Well thank him for me." Just then Gates saw a woman wearing a short red dress with spaghetti straps, red shoes, and not wearing a bra. She had on a really long coat that almost reached the floor and was walking out of the restroom. The coat was open a little so she could see what she was wearing.

"Why is there a hooker in my precinct?" She didn't know of any active cases that involved a hooker.

Kate turned to look at what Gates was looking at and watched Olga walking their way. Her blood started to boil. Her new captain had just reached a new low. "That is my fiancée."

Kate snatched the rice bowl out of Gate's hands, then the drink, and went into the breakroom. Gates stood there without her lunch, watching a hooker walking toward her as what her detective had just told her sank in. "Fiancée."

"You must be Captain Gates." Olga held out her hand and smiled.

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MY FIANCÉE!" Kate yelled from the breakroom. Kate wasn't sure any amount of washing was going to get Gates's taint off of her. That had Olga turning to look at Kate since she didn't understand. She was here to melt her captain a little and something had apparently gone wrong.

Gates looked around and saw everyone's eyes on her. She wasn't sure just what to do or say. She'd been caught being a bitch and it was embarrassing. She chose to walk into her office, close the door behind her, and sit down at her desk.

"Get out, Castle! …NOW!" Castle was still in the break room. He took his rice bowl selection and a drink and got out fast. "Get in here," Kate told Olga and closed the door behind her.

Olga watched a fuming Kate pace around the break room, not stopping. "What?"

"SHE! …She! …Gates wanted to know why there was a hooker in her precinct." Kate went back to pacing the breakroom floor. What she wanted to do was scream, or break something, or shoot someone.

Olga knew her mouth had dropped open and was looking between Kate and where Gates had retreated to. She had never thought of what she wore made her look like a hooker. Okay, maybe it was a bit provocative, but she wanted people to see a woman, not a man.

Maybe it was because she saw herself as being a woman and yet she had a penis that was very unfemalelike. It was something she'd been trying to come to grips with all her life. Then she met Kate who loved her for who and what she was.

"What are you doing?" Kate stopped when she saw Olga had her phone out. As she listened to what she was saying, Kate was shaking her head. "OLGA!" However Kate didn't dare interrupt her for fear who was on the other end would hear her and recognize her voice.

Olga put her phone away. "You shouldn't have done that." Kate had heard every word Olga had said.

"If food won't soften her up maybe a dressing down for being a thoughtless bitch will," Olga told her.

It was done and Kate couldn't undo it; she sighed. "I brought this, too." Olga took out a piece of paper. "Since your captain is hiding out in her office maybe we could all talk about it. Maybe decide on a name."

Kate looked at the list. Olga had actually really limited the number of names down to just a few.

This had Kate opening the door since they were about to talk about her most important case. "Espo, Ryan, bring Castle with you." Castle thought in some of the weirdest of ways so maybe he could think of something they couldn't. She wanted this guy and she wanted him bad.

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Castle sat there and listened to everything he was being told. They were actually including him in all of this. It was sobering. He even resisted looking down Olga's dress.

Finally after what felt like forever but was just a few minutes of talking quickly, they were all silent.

"Only Roy Montgomery knows the name and you've limited it to these few." Rick took the list again and looked it over. None of them really appeared to be all that powerful. "I do know a few people," Rick offered.

"NO!" Kate wanted to yell it at him but whispered forcefully instead. "We need to limit who is involved. He gets wind that we're after him, have a name, then we're all in danger."

"Coonan and Lockwood are likely both ex-military. They're paid killers and both were skilled. If he has access to two he has access to others," Olga cautioned. "Raglan by sniper and Coonan used a knife, so who is his explosive expert?"

"Or hand-to-hand expert. Those guys from the Gulf War are highly trained, can kill you easily, and not blink an eye. Cold-blooded killers." Espo had met a few. Actually more than just a few. They liked killing.

"So how do any of these names gave us access to these guys?" Ryan questioned.

"Depends on where they are now," Olga answered quickly.

"Gates's headed this way." Espo saw her. The meeting was now over and Kate snatched the list from Castle, putting it away.

Olga got up to leave. "Looks like I'm about to be kicked out."

"I hate her." Kate seethed again over what she had called her fiancée.

"Not yet, love, not just yet." Olga kissed her head, opened the door, and walked to the elevator quickly.

"Detective Beckett." Gates'd had her ass removed by the mayor. He was also going to inform the police commissioner of her behavior and it was now going to be a part of her permanent record. What the police commissioner would do was anyone's guess but she was betting what was left of her ass was going to be removed by him.

"I apologize for my insult of your fiancée. I had no idea that your fiancée, or any fiancée, was a woman." It also had told her that she hadn't even bothered to keep up with her own staff. She'd been so occupied with how Montgomery had run this precinct yet managed to get the best closure rate out of all the precincts in the city. His glowing remarks about Beckett were something she just didn't see. Still her closure record spoke volumes about just what she had accomplished in the past.

"Back to work, guys." Kate ignored Gates since if she did speak to her she was likely to yell at her and she wasn't ready to be suspended or fired.

Gates tried again. "Detective."

Kate kept ignoring her. "Where are we on our suspect?"

Gates took the hint and retreated to her office. She had taken this job because she had thought it was the next step in her career. She felt trapped in Internal Affairs. That job was a dead end.

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"Sean Elt doesn't exist. He may be listed as the writer of the comic book that is a copy of the attack on Tony but it isn't him." Kate drew a red X next to his name on her white board.

"Wait a minute! It's an anagram. Switch the letters around," Castle blurted.

Kate suddenly saw it. "Stan Lee." It didn't solve the problem but it maybe was still a clue.

"I've got two more incidents of attacks in the comic book that match real attacks. One was the burning of a truck full of TVs." Espo handed out pictures.

"Okay, pull up the two police reports. See if they have anything in common," Kate said.

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"Meet one Paul Whittaker" Ryan put his picture up on the white board. "He worked for the Ledger. He was a no-show at work and he's not at home, either. We put out an APB and flagged his credit cards." It was all Ryan had for the moment.

"Paul Whittaker just maxed out his credit card. One block from the comic book store," Kate told them after hanging up the phone.

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"Really? Our killer is a writer?" Gates wasn't so sure.

Rick defended his chosen method of making a living. "Even writers can be men of action."

Gates took yet another swipe at Castle since she hated having him there. "Really? I have yet to see that, Mr. Castle."

"Detective, I'd like to tell the mayor that we actually have our killer this time. Get a confession from him." Gates left these two.

"Is it cold in here or is it just me?" Rick quipped after Gates was gone.

"She might actually be warming up to you, Castle," Kate grinned.

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"So he confessed." Espo was happy.

"Except Paul didn't know his hand was chopped off before he was cut in half. He isn't our killer. He's covering for someone else." Kate had a confession but it was a fake and didn't add up.

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"So an abandoned tenant building. Perfect place for a superhero to hide out while he plots his next superhero deed." Rick loved it.

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Ryan's voice suddenly sounded over the radio. "Beckett! Got a guy on the fire escape headed your way."

Kate and Castle retreated and watched the window.

"NYPD, don't move! …I wouldn't do that if I was you. There are officers all over downstairs. Now take off that mask," Kate ordered as she and Castle watched when the mask was pulled off.

"Officer Hastings!" Kate actually lowered her weapon in total shock. She knew Hastings. This wasn't her, it couldn't be.

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"She didn't kill Tyler Farris, the guy cut in half," Kate stated as she walked back to her desk.

"How do you know?" Castle asked her.

"I…I just know." Listening to how Hastings did anything that she did and was actually trying to emulate her after her dad had been murdered was cutting just a little too close to home for her.

"Okay, so if she didn't, who did? …A third Lone Vengeance?" Rick cocked his head and stared at Kate.

"So maybe a criminal that wanted Lone Vengeance off the streets. Someone that knew…" Kate thought she had someone that fit this new information perfectly.

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"There's just one problem with your fantasy story. You got no proof," he smiled after they told him this story.

"Actually we do." Kate showed him a button in a plastic bag. "We found a partial print and matched it to your cousin. After talking to him he told us that he made you a Lone Vengeance costume."

"I want a lawyer!" Tony screeched.

"And you're going to need one," Kate replied with satisfaction.

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"Ann, you're a good cop and you got somebody who cares about you. Don't be so driven by the past that you throw away your future," Kate said, trying to reach the young woman.

"And you, Detective? My father was murdered and your mother was murdered. Perhaps you should listen to yourself." Ann walked away to join her boyfriend that she loved.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Olga saw Kate as she came home and didn't like what she saw. "Uh-oh. What happened this time? Gates again?

"No. Gates my have actually grown a heart today. Or simply didn't want it to get out that one of our own was Lone Vengeance and going around being a vigilante. Wouldn't look good," Kate said wearily.

"So why the long face?" Olga didn't see what that had to do with Kate's mood.

"Ann Hastings was one of the Lone Vengeances and didn't hack our first vic in two. She got into it because her father had been murdered and was fighting back against people like who had killed him.

"I asked her not to be so driven by the past that she threw away her future. …Ann is so much like me. She could be a really good cop someday."

Olga smiled since she thought she now understood why the long face. "And?"

"Buy the boat, sell the house, sell the car. I'll sell my apartment and take the job if they offer it to me." Kate saw Olga smiling wide and found herself being kissed soundly.

"What about this Dragon?" Olga asked her.

"Roy's the only one with a name. Hired killers mean a bullet in my head. …I told her, 'Don't throw away your future.' I have a future and I want it. I really want it." Olga saw tears in Kate's eyes.

"So you do want to marry me and live in Hawaii and start a new job?" Olga needed to make sure.

Kate felt her tears falling and nodded. "I love you. I want nothing more than to be married to you. The FBI can find him and deal with him."

Olga grinned at her. "Dinner or something else?"

"Make love to me." She was giving up her quest to find out who killed her mother and listening to her own advice. It was time to live her future and see where it took her.

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Kate was resting naked up against her naked fiancée and liked exactly where she was. She had never realized just how empty her heart was until Olga began to fill it. Yet while it was starting to feel pretty full already she was betting it wasn't even half full yet.

"You're thinking rather loudly," Olga murmured.

Feeling rather languid, Kate replied, "Not really thinking much at all. Just enjoying where I am now."

"Your next phone interview is next week so I'll put the house up for sale tomorrow along with the car. You'll need to do the same for your place. I can look at how to get the car and everything else over there tomorrow as well. …Oh and look for a place for us to live while we wait for the boat to be done. Just get ready to think of what you want it to look like inside and out," Olga told her with a hint of excitement in her voice.

Olga felt Kate silently laughing. "What?"

"I can't really believe I'm doing this. I dedicated my life to finding out who killed my mother and putting him behind bars. Now I'm not going to do that. Instead I'm quitting my job, getting a new one, moving to a different state really far away, living on a boat and getting married." Kate couldn't help but laugh at how her life had changed.

"You're still going to find out who killed her. It just might not be you that puts the cuffs on him. Roy will make a deal eventually so he can stay out of prison. When he does the FBI will start an investigation then ultimately arrest him.

"You _will_ get what you want, love. It just won't be you doing all of it. He doesn't have enough hired killers to kill all of the FBI agents. As for him rotting in prison until he dies… I guess we'll just have to wait and see." Kate noticed that Olga's eyes briefly changed. They looked hard like stone.

Kate sighed. She did actually wish a little but she was feeling good about her decision. If Ann could do it, so could she.

"Colors, huh?" Kate actually considered those now. "Just not all white, please. Reminds me too much of a hospital." And she hated hospitals.

"We can do anything we want. Just keep in mind rooms that are in the pontoons will need to be brighter since they'll have fewer windows unless we want it dark," Olga cautioned.

"Spare bedroom and theater room, maybe. And maybe the exercise room. All it needs is lighting," Kate suggested. "We're actually going to do this?"

"Start a whole new life? Yes. No Dragon with hired killers trying to kill us. No more jobs for me. If you can meet me halfway in my gray world, I can meet you halfway in your black and white one." Olga kissed her.

"Hawaii." Kate chuckled. Until she met Olga she'd never even considered leaving New York City.


	15. Chapter 15

**Moving On**

_Chapter 15_

Kate had made her choice but her job offer wasn't until next week. In the mean time she had another case to work.

"Where's the body?" Kate walked up to Lanie with Castle next to her.

"That is an excellent question," Lanie replied as she picked up and bagged what she had.

"You mean there's no body?" If they didn't have a body did they even have a case?

"Nope, just lots of blood. Whoever it is they didn't survive," Lanie informed them.

"I think I know who moved it. I've got witnesses who say they saw a white van fleeing the scene just after 7:00 pm." Ryan indicated the direction the van went. Back the way Kate and Ryan and likely everyone else that was there had entered.

Kate looked around; the ground was wet. "Tire tracks. Get casts made. Maybe it will tell us something. Maybe they can get a pattern."

"Something wrong, Ryan?" Kate asked.

"Just that word pattern. Jenny and I are going through patterns for china, stemware, silverware… Pattern, got it." Ryan left.

Esposito joined them. "Pretty sure I got a cause of death."

"Besides massive blood loss?" All Rick saw was blood.

"Gun shots. Neighbors heard gunshots at 6:40 pm," Espo revealed.

Kate questioned the timing. "Ryan's witnesses say they saw a van roaring out of here at 7:00 pm."

"Then why would they wait for the body to bleed out to take it?" Espo didn't see the connection.

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"So you have lots of blood, maybe a briefcase because of the pattern found in the blood, and some tire tracks." Gates wasn't impressed.

"Lanie has confirmed that the blood belongs to a male," Kate said.

"A male? This is all you've got?" Gates was really beginning to think that Kate wasn't that good and Montgomery was lying through his teeth.

"That does eliminate 4 million women in the city," Rick chimed in.

"Mr. Castle, I don't know what the mayor sees in you. But you two do have one thing in common. Term limits." Even if she had to wait for the mayor to be out of office she was kicking Castle to the curb.

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Castle wondered aloud what might placate Gates. "Maybe flowers?"

Ryan walked up with something they could use. "Surveillance cameras show two different vans leaving that area."

"Econoline. Tire treads match those used for that model," Espo reported.

Ryan checked his folder. "That makes it this van. PW Storage. It's just 6 blocks from our crime scene."

Kate let out a deep breath. Finally a break. "Okay, let's go."

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"Definitely our van. The plates match." Ryan got out and like everyone else, had his vest on and weapon out.

"Beckett." Ryan found blood on the front bumper. "Door."

Inside it was all silver. Sliding a door open they saw even more silver, two rows of cylinders with hoses attached, and no one in sight. "What the hell?" Espo, like the others, hadn't seen anything like it.

"What are these things?" Ryan didn't recognize them.

"Judging from the size I'd say…" Rick wiped condensation away and cried out when he saw a face on the other side. "People, they're all people."

"They look frozen." Ryan wiped his own, getting Kate to do one.

"What the hell is this place?" Just what did this wild place have to do with their dead body?

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"They steal our body and threaten to sue us!?" Gates was livid.

"Sir, it's a legal chicken and egg problem." Kate tried to explain, "They threaten to sue us. Hamilton's body is on private property. We can't get it without a warrant and it's going to be tough to get a warrant because without a body we can't even prove that he was murdered."

"Did you get the double speak from their lawyer?" And why was her detective even listening to this quack?

"No, sir. My father's a lawyer. Anyway, trust me. This is the way it's going to go," Kate warned her; it wasn't going to be easy.

"Find that briefcase and get the wife to release the body." They needed their dead body to find out who killed him.

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Kate was reaching nothing but dead ends. They had a possible gun and maybe someone who was holding it. But without that body they had nothing.

Kate broke it to her. "Sir, without that body we can't do anything."

"I'll call the DA. I don't care what they say. We have a body and we have a suspect." Gates headed for her office.

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"Have a fun day?" Kate found Olga upstairs looking over possible interiors for their future home.

"We had a dead body, a site filled with blood, but no body," Kate grumbled frustratedly.

That had Olga tuning to look at her. "Try that again?"

"This company got a signal that our vic was dead so they came and collected the body before we got the word. Then we tracked the van down that took our body. It lead us to a…a cryogenic unit for the preservation of dead people so they could live again in the future when technology caught up to save them." There she'd said it.

Olga looked askance. "You have a dead body frozen in a cryo tank?" Had she heard right?

"Technically the body is now on private property and we couldn't get a court order to get the body back at first. We did, however, get to have his clothes and determined it was a large caliber round that killed him.

"Finally we got the body but the weapon we had was a .45 but Lanie tells me he was killed by a .38 so now we've got nothing." They were presently at a dead end.

"So you got the frozen dead body," Olga questioned since Lanie had managed to compare calibers.

"Just the body. The cryo company allowed us to have the body if they got to keep the head." Kate knew what it sounded like.

"What good is it having a frozen head off of a dead body?" Olga squinted at her. "Have you been drinking?" Olga would have been sure of it if she didn't know Kate better.

"Don't I wish!" Kate rolled her eyes.

"So how's Gates?" Had what she did done her any good.

"She still hates me. And Castle and just about everyone else in the precinct. We're all learning that she didn't get the name Iron Gates for nothing." Kate really needed to decompress.

"How was your day?" Hopefully hers went better than hers had.

"I sold the car," Olga told her.

"ALREADY!? You only just put it up for sale!" How had that happened so quickly?

"Told you it was a one of a kind exotic sports car. I even made a profit." Olga was happy for that.

"Do I want to know how much?" Kate wasn't sure she wanted to know. All Olga did was show her.

"A transport truck will show up, load it, and take it away," Olga said.

"They didn't even come out to see it?" Of course she was sure Olga had taken lots and lots of pictures, but still. "HOLY SHIT!" Kate saw the price. **One point eight million dollars**

"My god! That alone is half the cost of the boat." Kate was actually starting to think this might work. Now she just needed an offer or they were in trouble. "What are you listing the house for? Or should I ask?"

"You're my fiancée, ask me anything you want. I'm listing it for 1.6 million, completely furnished. Including the apartment. Even a lot of the craft room is staying. My new space isn't nearly as large so not a lot of it's going with us." Olga shrugged. It was just stuff.

"That's 2.4 of the 2.6 that we need. I haven't even had the time to think about my place." Kate knew what she'd paid for it but not what to list it for.

"I can handle that for you. You just concentrate on your job and future job. This is going to be so much fun." Olga was ecstatic about what was coming. She leaned back to smile up at Kate who once again kissed her upside down.

"So what were you looking at earlier?" Kate inquired.

"I was toying around with interior colors. I've got some exterior colors for you on the printer." Olga waved toward the printer as Kate picked them up and looked them over.

Kate stood there, looking them over. She saw white with wood decks. Silver sides with white and wood decks. Gold instead of silver. Then a dark gray for a side with white and wood decks. Then finally deep navy blue sides with all white top.

"I think I kind of like the dark gray with white and wood decks. Are we on the same page?" Kate was beginning to wonder if they were going to fight over this. Even if Kate did like everything where they lived. Even the pink wall was growing on her.

"Close enough. I was thinking silver with white and wood decks. Yours is just a little darker, but I like it.

"It's mostly your money so choose yours if you want. I like that, too," Kate said.

"It's going to take weeks for what we'll be shipping to arrive. So you can pick the second car or we're going to have to rent one for several weeks," Olga noted.

"What about my Harley?" She wasn't leaving that behind.

"It goes with my baby and everything we don't take with us. I haven't yet started with where we're going to stay while we wait for the boat. …I was thinking they offer you a job, you accept, or they want to offer you a job and are willing to fly you out for an in person interview. We can look for an apartment while we're there then come back," Olga suggested.

"I give two weeks notice. Probably end up chained to my desk." Kate could see Gates doing it just out of spite. "Then we pack and fly over, move in, and wait for everything else." Kate was onboard with it all.

"Just think, you can spend all day in a bikini even during winter." Olga turned to smile at her.

"You've seen me naked and you're working really hard there at getting me into a bikini," Kate pointed out and grinned at her since living in a bikini did sound like a good plan.

"Guilty as charged. What's my sentence?" Olga smiled at her.

"You get to feed me. I'm starving." Kate moved over to her and bent down so she could kiss her. "Then you can make love to me." Kate was addicted to all the sex and didn't care in the least.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"What have we got, Lanie?" Kate and Castle showed up in her morgue.

"I've tested everything you sent me and it's all human DNA," Lanie asserted.

"Great, can you tell me whose?" Kate needed a victim of human testing being done in a two bit flea ridden hotel.

Lanie showed them a picture of their victim. "Meet one Lester Hamilton."

"He was doing testing on himself?" Kate was shocked.

"Dr. Frankenstien was trying to be Frankenstein?" Rick asked, his eyes huge.

"It gets better. I found brain matter on some of it," Lanie announced.

"He was experimenting on his brain?" Kate didn't believe this case.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"We have an agreement." Dr. Weiss didn't like this.

"That was before we didn't need Hamilton's head as part of this case. Now we do." Kate didn't care, she wanted his head.

"Please." He tried one final time.

"Doctor Weiss, we have a warrant for his head." Kate waved it in front of his face.

"I'll be as minimally as invasive as I can, Doctor." Lanie was with them for this trip.

"Anything invasive could destroy brain tissue and render him permanently dead." His client really was going to end up dead.

"It's gone! The case with his head should be right there." His hand shaking, he pointed to the empty space on a shelf.

"Are you saying you lost his head?" What was this, a headless horseman movie?

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Turns out there was a break-in at the storage facility," Espo told Kate and took her to a TV.

"Security footage. Watch this." Rick loved this since he had already seen it more than once.

"Doctor Boyd!" What the hell was going on around here?

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate was now pounding on his door and calling out his name. The sound of glass breaking suggested he was escaping so Kate kicked in the door and both of them ran to the broken window that had a fire escape.

"Beckett! He has the head." Rick saw him going down the fire escape with the head in one arm.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"So, Doctor Boyd, it seems we caught you red-handed." He had a dead man's head in his possession and he was on tape stealing it. Now she just had to get him to confess to killing him in the first place.

"I didn't kill him," Boyd insisted.

"Then why did you steal his head? Did you miss him?" This case was already one of her weirder ones.

"He came to me months ago. Testing showed that he had stage four brain cancer…golf ball sized tumors. He only had a few months to live," Boyd informed her.

"So why did he go to you? Why didn't he go to a hospital?" Kate queried.

"Because I'm a scientist. He knew cryo therapy wasn't going to save him. He knew my work, though. I'm years away from human testing to remove tumors. …But he was my best friend. How could I say no to him?" He worked on his head to remove the tumors.

"I did five procedures over a month," Floyd admitted. In that sleazy hotel room.

"So was he getting better?" Kate asked.

"No. A few days before he was killed an MRI showed that the tumors were growing. The treatment had failed." His friend was a walking dead man.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Olga sat there and listened intently to Kate's story. "So the wife killed him before the tumors took him away from her. Then killed herself so that some day so far into the future that I can't count that high, they could be found, fixed, and reunited again." Olga thought she was following.

"Yeah." Kate was actually a little touched. She was a killer but she loved him deeply.

"I don't know if that's sick or a love I've never hear of." Olga couldn't decide.

"It's a love story. …A weird one, but a love story. You think there's hope for us?" Kate questioned her.

"Oh, yes. We're going to do great things. You wait and see." Olga couldn't think of anything else for it to be. "Have you spoken to your dad lately?" She meant had Kate told him they were getting married and moving to Hawaii?

"That's where I'm going next. You don't need to cook for me." Kate was expecting to be gone for a few hours.

"Want some company?" Olga would gladly go with her.

"No, I need to talk to Dad. Can I take a picture of the boat with me?" Olga handed it over.

"Call if you need me." Olga got up and kissed her. Based on her dad coming to her earlier, she knew he approved of them being together. But would he approve of them getting married and moving so far away?

"Kate, you know he can practice law in Honolulu just as easily as you can be a homicide detective. He just needs to find a job there." Olga didn't mind having him close. "If I thought for a second I could talk my parents into it I would ask them. But they wouldn't."

"Thanks, I'll be back late." Kate kissed her and left to go spend time with her dad.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Since Kate was out that gave her time to snack on what she wanted and start looking for an apartment for them to live in while they waited for the boat. It all hinged on Kate getting the job, though.

Her biggest problem turned out to be finding a place that came furnished since even if they did bring some furniture with them it wouldn't show up for weeks.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Hi, Dad." Kate smiled at him when he answered the door.

"Katie, come on in." Jim backed away as she walked in. "How have you been doing?"

"Pretty good." Kate looked around and didn't see anything different.

That had Jim's attention. In the past she was always _fine._ Now she was _pretty good. _ "Do I owe Olga a thanks for you being in a good mood?" Jim was pretty sure where her good mood came from.

"I've been in a good mood before," Kate countered. She hadn't been just wasting away all this time.

"Perhaps. However, there's no denying that Olga has increased your good mood," Jim observed.

Kate couldn't deny it and didn't try. Instead she sat down and now suddenly Jim saw her mood change. "If this isn't just a social visit what's going on?" Jim sat next to her.

"I'm quitting my job and looking for a different job somewhere else." She was actually moving out of town and even the entire state.

"Oh!" Now this was new. "What brought this on?"

"A lot of things, I guess. Montgomery, Gates, Olga, Castle, mainly." She actually had a big list in her mind.

"Okay, so explain each one to me then tell me what this new job is," Jim said.

Boy, where to start. "Montgomery lied to me. Lied to _us._ All this time he knew who killed Mom. He was even in on what got her killed and he did nothing. Absolutely nothing, Dad. I trusted him and he _lied."_ She still felt betrayed in a way she never had been before.

That had Jim sitting back. "Did he tell you who?" Let alone why which was going to be his next question.

"He doesn't plan on going to prison and dragging his family through it. His family. Forget that he got Mom killed. We think he's keeping the name to himself so he can make a deal and stay out of prison. So I still don't know who had her killed." She wasn't sure just when she was going to find out.

"And Gates?" Hearing about Montgomery was bad enough.

"Gates hates me. Actually she hates everyone." Kate was pretty certain about that.

"You're sure you're not exaggerating just a little? Reading something that isn't there?" Jim needed for her to be sure before she just quit her job.

"She insulted me to my face, Dad. Didn't blink, didn't even care. She's critical of everything I do. Everything everyone does. She's got the entire precinct hating her." Okay, she didn't know if everyone hated her. She hadn't talked to people in other divisions. Just based on what she was doing to the homicide division the others probably hadn't escaped her wrath.

"Maybe she just has a different style," Jim offered and saw the look his daughter gave him.

"All right, what does Castle have to do with this? I thought he was long gone years ago?" Jim inquired.

"Alexis, that's his teenage daughter who's almost in college now, came to see me. She begged me to let Castle follow me around so he could get inspiration to write another book. Apparently he hasn't written anything in three years." She did feel bad about that.

"He was your mother's favorite writer. I'm sure she would like that you're helping. So what about Olga? Based on what you told me about her I thought you liked her a lot." He'd even gone to see her to get Katie off his wife's case before it killed her.

"I do like her. I love her. We're actually getting married eventually. She asked and I said yes." Had she really not told him that? She must be really screwing up if she hadn't.

"That's great, Katie." Jim was happy for her.

"You're not upset that she's a woman?" Marrying her wasn't exactly conventional.

"Love is love, honey. Why should I deny you the happiness it brings you? I just want you happy. So would your mother." Jim wasn't sure what she would think about Katie marrying a woman, but she would still be happy for her.

"Thanks, Dad." She suddenly felt a lot better about her decision. "We're also selling everything, buying a boat, and moving to Honolulu." Now for the really big decision.

"Hawaii. What brought this on?" Leaving New York was a big decision. "Let me guess, Gates." The way she obviously disliked her new boss was obvious.

"Partly. That and Olga talked me into searching for a job as homicide detective in Honolulu. I've already talked to them and they're interested. I have an official phone interview in a couple of days."

"Hawaii sounds like a nice place to live. Maybe a little expensive and isolated, but nice. Your mother and I never made it there. You're going to get to go somewhere neither of us have ever been." Jim wasn't against her moving to Hawaii. "You said something about a boat?" Had he heard right?

"Yeah, it's a powered catamaran. Just short of 80 feet long. We're having it made just for us. It'll take about a year. …Oh, I forgot to bring a photo. I left it in the car, I think." Kate started to get up and Jim stopped her.

"You can show me later. So getting married in Hawaii?" Jim liked the sound of that. The perfect place to get married.

"We haven't talked about that yet. Not where or even when. It's still a little new. OH! Olga wants to know if you want to move with us. Find a firm to work for in Honolulu. They have to have a few somewhere." Kate saw him hesitating so she took his hands.

"Please think about it, Dad," Kate begged. "A flight between here and there will take hours and hours and be very expensive."

"Move to Hawaii?" Hawaii likely had different state laws but it was still within the United States so that wouldn't change.

"Just think about it. We can help you sell what you want and help you move," Kate offered.

"What about your friends here?" She had friends and she was leaving them.

"I suppose I could ask around if they need two homicide detectives and an ME." She hadn't thought about that. She could ask during her interview. They might know something. Even if it wasn't in Honolulu. There were other islands.

"And your quest to find who killed your mother?" Jim silently prayed really hard yet again.

Kate glanced down then looked at her dad and smiled."I gave that up. Roy isn't going to tell me. Between Olga and Ann Hastings I've learned to live my life and make Mom happy for me."

"THANK GOD!" Jim couldn't be happier. He knew that his wife was happy, too. Katie shouldn't be so willing to die to find out who killed her mother. It was the last thing either of them would want.

"Just for that I'll start making some phone calls to Hawaii." Jim suddenly found himself being hugged and heard a little sniffling from her. He'd obviously said the right thing.


	16. Chapter 16

**Moving On**

_Chapter 16_

"Give me a minute and I'll find out." Kate left her phone behind and went in search of Olga who wasn't far since she was sitting on their bed.

"Done already?" Olga thought that was bad news and trouble.

"They want to know if I have Skype capability," Kate told her.

"Of course." Olga used it many times and was up and going upstairs. "One of us needs to either send an invitation or we both go to the same site and use an access code. Ask them what they want to do." Olga was ready for anything.

It took a few minutes and Olga was typing while standing behind Kate who was sitting in her chair. The second they both saw someone Olga ran to the bedroom to give her some privacy.

Kate had talked to a man last time, however, what she saw on her screen were two women. She was used to men being in charge so was Hawaii different? "Katherine Beckett, I'm Susan Ballard, the Chief of Police. This is Lisa Mann, Assistant Chief. She's the head of the Investigative Unit. Lisa would effectively be who you would be reporting to."

"A pleasure to meet both of you. What can I help you with?" They needed to understand her.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate got questioned about a lot of things. Most of it had nothing to do with what they already knew. They both wanted to learn what they didn't already know.

Kate wasn't keeping track of time and was ready to ask questions of her own when they asked if she had any for them.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate raced down the stairs and plopped down next to Olga. "And?" Olga couldn't take the wait any longer.

"They're six hours behind us or ahead of us. Whatever, they asked if we could do another Skype in three hours. They wanted to invite someone else into the interview." Kate was all smiles.

While Kate looked happy Olga asked her anyway. "Is that good news? And you did say yes, right?"

"Yes, and yes. Apparently they do things differently. They have seven commissioners that rotate between them every five years. They hire or remove the chief of police who I just talked to. They also evaluate her performance annually and review rules and regulations. They also review the budget and make changes to it. Then they also review goals and objectives of the police department. They also investigate any charges brought against any members of the police department. They want me to talk to one of them," Kate said.

"So it went well?" Olga hadn't heard much about her getting a job offer yet.

"The police chief's a woman and my potential new boss is also a woman." Kate couldn't believe it. Save for a few exceptions Kate was close to the only woman in the precinct or so it seemed sometimes.

"Just so long as they're not Gates." Olga prayed for her.

"I don't think so, but it's hard to tell over a monitor." Kate really didn't think so.

"Three hours from now is going to be a little late here." Just not late there.

"I have to go in tomorrow but I'll survive. I've done worse." She had spent what felt like days working a case before.

"Well, I found two apartments we could look at after we get there." Olga pulled the papers out from off the bed behind her and handed them to her.

"1778 Ala Moana Boulevard. …I think my kitchen is almost bigger than this one. One thousand square feet for $4,000 a month." Kate tossed it over her head and didn't care where it landed.

"1888 Kalakaua Avenue. These names are going to take some time getting used to." She wasn't even sure she was pronouncing it properly. "One thousand three hundred eighteen square feet for $4,100 a month." Kate shuffled through the pictures.

"One wall of windows is nice. Looks like white carpet." Kate made a face of disgust. "Washer dryer in the unit. Exercise room, pool, yoga mats. 25th floor! That's quite the view. It's better than the other one. Is this all?" There had to be more.

"We need one that comes furnished so that limits the options and I'm not staying in a flea trap at $1,000 a month," Olga informed her.

That had Kate looking at the pictures again. "We only have to live here until the boat's done and arrives. It'll work." Kate didn't bat at eye at the cost. New York wasn't any better or even worse since this one was over a thousand square feet.

"Good, now we wait. Unless you want to discuss interior décor." Olga said hopefully. A short time later they were both back upstairs, looking at interiors of mega yachts to see what they each liked and didn't like.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Wait." Kate stopped her and studied the picture. "This looks nice. Polished cherry wood walls and a little on the ceiling. Tile floors so no carpet. Maybe not that floor. Looks like bluish gray furniture with dashes of color. I like it." Olga kept going to a different room that was the master bedroom.

"I like all the windows but I don't think we're going to have that many. The floor's black." Kate stuck out her tongue. "Can we do something other than more polished cherry wood?"

"I'll do some more searches and see if I can find something that I like and maybe you will, too. At least I know you don't like all white." Olga watched her shake her head.

"I like wood like this ceiling, the wainscoting, and wood floors. If we can repeat that it would be great," Kate told her.

"I'll see what I can find to show you. Just don't get your hopes up over another ceiling like the living room." Olga was pretty sure that was one of a kind.

"Yeah, I was afraid you'd say that. That's the best part." Kate thought that was the best part of this home. "You're sure you're fine selling the car?" Yes, they needed the money to help pay for the boat but that was a really nice car.

"I'll live. I still have my baby." It was enough for Olga. "You need to start thinking about whether we get a second car or do we rent for several weeks if not months. I'm still not sure how long it will take to ship everything."

"So long as it's inexpensive. I don't need anything fancy. It's just to get between work and home. Something small maybe," Kate said.

"It's yours and you'll be buying it so check out the local dealers. It's almost time. Good luck." Olga kissed her and retreated downstairs where she made some coffee while she waited.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate was a little shocked to see yet another woman. So far the only male she knew about was the mayor. This lady was one of the many commissioners that took turns. Kate learned her name was Karen Chang.

She went over some of the same questions that had already been asked. She was starting to think she was being interrogated to see if her story ever changed. She didn't care, she was telling them the truth.

She was also told that they would be emailing her an offer shortly. As soon as she signed it and sent it back she would be expected to start work at the first of the month. They wouldn't be offering any relocation assistance, not that Kate needed any assistance and told them so.

She did warn them that her first address would only be a temporary address and they were fine with that.

"We look forward to adding you to our office, Detective Beckett." And the Skype interview was over.

"I got a job." Kate wasn't sure just what to do. She still had to wait for the email, then print it out, and go downstairs to show it to Olga.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Olga was standing in the kitchen, drinking her coffee. "What did they say?" Kate needed this job or they might have to change plans.

Instead of answering her Kate gave her a piece of paper and went to the coffeemaker to get her own cup of coffee.

Olga started reading and it took a moment for what she was reading to sink in. "This is a job offer! They offered you a job?" Olga turned to look at her as she stood there sipping her coffee. "What are you going to do?"

Once again instead of answering her Kate just leaned across, pointed at something, and went back to hiding her grin behind her cup of coffee that tasted very different. It wasn't bad but it wasn't what she was used to.

"You signed it. …You accepted!" Olga was ready to hug her and kiss her but she was standing there grinning and sipping her coffee. "Talk to me." Her silence was killing her.

"They have a very different system. Their commissioner is temporary and it was another woman. Asian this time. The pay's a little less and I'll be on a three month probation. I'll have to wait 30 days for medical benefits, however, I can start the 401k immediately." Kate grinned at her.

"So you're taking the job?" Olga needed to hear it.

Kate nodded. "I need your help to use your scanner to scan it and send it back."

She watched Olga put the paper and her coffee cup down then Olga took her cup out of her hands and put it down. Kate was wondering just what she was going to do. As she slowly put her arms around her getting Kate to do the same, Olga began kissing her.

"I'm proud of you." Not just because she was moving to Hawaii with her. Agreeing to marry her and live on a boat with her. But Olga was mostly proud of her that she'd made it past giving her life away in pursuit of her mother's killer.

Kate was smiling wide. She hadn't thought it possible but she actually loved Olga just a touch more. "I asked about other jobs, but they didn't have any. So nothing for Espo or Ryan. At least not on Oahu. But the other islands are technically other counties and they each have their own police departments. They said they would ask but it would be up to Espo and Ryan to apply. So maybe." It might happen someday, it was just that it was looking like that wasn't going to be immediately.

"And your friend Lanie?" Olga inquired while still holding onto her.

"Now there's better news. I just have to get Lanie to contact the name I was given and get her to apply. She might not get it but you never know." She just had to talk Lanie into it.

"And what did your dad say?" Olga already knew what her parents had said.

"Dad said he would make a few phone calls. Hopefully he's doing it and really wants to do it." Kate was a little worried that he was going to do nothing and had only said he would make a few calls to make her happy for the moment.

"You can call him and ask him again." She might have to push him a little like she had pushed Kate. It was looking like the entire Beckett family was a little stubborn. "So what do we do to celebrate?" Olga smiled wide at her and then grinned.

"Sleep," Kate replied with a yawn. "I have to go to work in a few hours. It's almost midnight."

"Fine." Olga had wanted to make love to her. "First we need to scan your acceptance of their offer and send it back to them."

Kate was out in front of her when Olga suddenly had a question. "When's your birthday?"

"November 17, 1979."

"Your birthday is just a couple of months away and you didn't tell me!" Olga couldn't believe it. "I am so going to spank you." Olga was going to get her for this.

Kate turned her head as she walked. "You promise?" Kate teased and squealed and ran up the stairs when Olga charged at her. This was so much fun. She felt young again even if she was 31.

Olga stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "MY GOD! I'm in love with an older woman." Olga hadn't really thought about it until now.

"What!?" Kate had heard that and had stopped at the top of the stairs. "How old are you?" Kate had thought she was about her age.

"Hm? Oh, I turned 30 a couple of weeks before I even met you that first time," Olga told her.

"You're not that much younger than me." Kate didn't see the need for all the dramatics. It was just one…and almost two years. Kate shook it off. "It's just a year." At least until it wasn't.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

They had scanned her acceptance and sent it back last night. Kate was presently sitting on the bed so she could put her boots on, though she wasn't as Olga walked in naked carrying what she was going to wear today.

"You're thinking pretty hard. I can see the wheels turning," Olga said, smiling.

"I guess it's just sinking in that I'm moving. I need to give Gates two weeks notice of my resignation. Then tell Espo, Ryan, and Lanie. And my dad." Talking about it was one thing. Actually doing something was another.

"It'll all be over soon and we'll find ourselves in Hawaii starting a new life. With a little luck all of your friends will be right behind you. It just might take a little time is all. …Hey, maybe you can help me talk my parents into moving to Hawaii. I certainly haven't had any luck." Olga wasn't sure just why they were being so stubborn.

"I haven't even met your parents. You haven't even met my dad!" Kate suddenly realized.

Olga knew that she had but wasn't sure Kate should ever know that. "Invite him over and we can cook for him. It's getting a little cool outside but we can still grill if we want."

"I'll ask him." Kate felt Olga kiss her head.

"I have a lot of work to do myself. I need to get your place on the market. Be here for the car transport. Get this place sold. Put down a deposit on that apartment. Make arrangements for what we are keeping to be shipped. Talk to the people making the boat. Find a boat slip in a marina or at least get our names on the waiting list." And that was just the start.

Olga had her gaff on and her blue jeans when Kate took her hands and pulled her down onto the bed. "Give me a list and I'll help you." She didn't need to do everything alone.

Olga took a deep breath. "Go to your place and make a list of everything that you want to keep. We'll find a way to get all that over here. You need to decide if you want to sell your furniture or sell it as furnished. And call your dad and get him over here for dinner." Olga smiled at her. "And talk your friend into applying for that ME position."

"That's going to be the hard part." Kate had no idea what Lanie was going to think about that. "How's the shoulder?" It certainly looked a lot better.

"I'm still out of action if they send me an offer. Though if I get one we can talk about it. And don't forget to look at the local dealerships for what you want to drive." Olga leaned in and kissed her. "OH! And get your bike over here one of these days, too."

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate had finished her last case that had been a wild one yesterday so this morning was mostly all about filling out all of the paperwork, taking everything down off the white board, and boxing it up to be put in storage.

She did spend a moment filling out her two week resignation notice then signing it. Now she just needed to deliver it to Gates. But suddenly Castle sat down in the chair next to her desk.

"So what have we got? Alien abduction? Except that's just a missing persons report." He had just killed his own idea. "Though I don't know how we're going to top a dead frozen body with a frozen head." Rick was still excited about yesterday.

"People are dead, Castle." Kate didn't see much to celebrate about.

"I know and I'm sorry for their families. I just never knew murder investigations could be so, …interesting." Rick damped down his enthusiasm just a touch.

"Well, you're just in time to do your part of the paperwork," Kate told him.

"I just remembered that Alexis wanted me to do something. Sorry." Rick was up and out of his chair. "Call me if you get something." Rick walked toward the elevator.

"I thought that would get you," Kate said to herself.

"Where's Castle going?" Espo asked as he walked in and saw Castle leaving.

"He has a terminal allergic reaction to paperwork. Once again he'll look at dead bodies and work the case but not fill out his portion of the paperwork. That means you and Ryan get to do his." Kate smiled at him since she had the authority to pass it off to them.

"Remind me to thank him," Espo growled and sat at his desk. Kate smiled a little wider. It only reinforced her desire to get these two out to Hawaii and join her.

"I'm going to go see Lanie. Get started on your paperwork." It was time to face the music or at least this portion of the song.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"HAWAII!" Lanie yelled, not sure she was hearing correctly.

"We're moving. I have a job offer in Honolulu and I accepted. I just haven't told Gates yet. Or the guys, or Castle. It only happened last night. Just past lunch for them." Kate hadn't really caught up to the time difference.

"So you're selling your place?" Lanie questioned her and saw Kate nod. "Does your dad know?"

"He knows I'm trying. He doesn't yet know that I accepted. You're the first," Kate said and Lanie felt good about being told first.

"You're moving." Her best friend was leaving and it wasn't a short distance. Hawaii wasn't even close to New York. It would take hours to fly out there and cost a small fortune.

"You can come with me." Kate showed her the paperwork about a job that was available in Honolulu. "They're expecting you to apply. I told them what I know. Granted there will be others applying for the job, but you can try." Kate stood there as Lanie read what Kate had given her.

"It's a real ME job." Lanie had to admit that. "You gave them my name." Kate nodded again.

"All you have to do is apply and then wait. I'm giving Gates my two weeks notice today. Not that she'll miss me. She hates me." Kate was pretty sure she hated everyone in the precinct. "We'll help you move. Pack and ship everything. Find you an apartment. We're getting a two bedroom at first. Maybe Olga will agree you can have the other bedroom so you can save a little money." Kate tried to sweeten the offer.

Then Kate thought of something. "An entire city that full of buff Hawaiians that you haven't dated yet." Kate saw a grin start to form. "Just think of all those shirtless guys out on the beach all year long. No more winter months. Nothing but sunshine all year long." The grin got a little bigger.

Lanie looked at what Kate brought her. It didn't say anything about when, what the pay was, or who her boss would be. It just told her what the minimum requirements were. Education and experience and she exceeded all of those.

"I'll think about it." Lanie wasn't about to commit at the spur of the moment. Suddenly Kate was hugging her instead of the other way around.

"We could be working together again. Just in a different city." Kate would love to see her there.

Lanie had to admit that Kate being there was a draw as were all those men on a beach.

"I start at the first of the month so we or at least I will be leaving in a few short weeks. You could be right behind me. All you have to do is apply. We'll help you move as much as we can," Kate told her again.

"What about the guy that killed your mother?" Lanie knew she was dedicated to finding him.

"Roy isn't going to give up a name until it benefits him. I still care but I'm not investigating it. I'm going to live my life." Olga, her dad, Ann, and everyone else had finally gotten through to her.

"Thank God!" Now Kate found herself being crushed yet again by Lanie. "I'm happy for you. When's the wedding?" Naturally Lanie had seen the ring on her finger.

"We haven't talked about that much. We just know it's going to take place somewhere in Hawaii." That was about all the further they'd gotten.

"Then I guess I should be there, shouldn't I?" It was suddenly enough for Lanie to at least apply. She could always say no if she didn't like the offer if they gave her one or it didn't pay enough.

Now Kate got to hug her again and try and crush Lanie's bones for a change.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate knocked on the door frame. "Sir, do you have a moment?" She had talked Lanie into it so now it was time to give Gates the good news.

"What is it, Detective? Don't tell me you've finished all your paperwork already." Gates didn't see how. The last case she and her team had worked on had been full of surprises.

"No, sir." Kate put her paperwork on her desk.

Gates picked it up. "What's this?"

"My two weeks notice, I'm resigning," Kate said, thinking she just might actually smile for a change if not get up and start dancing. Granted dancing was an exaggeration but who knew.

"Resigning!? May I ask why?" Gates didn't get it.

"I'm moving with my fiancée that you recently called a hooker," Kate reminded her and actually watched her cringe at that which was a little satisfying to see. "I thought you'd be happy to see me go. You've made a point of criticizing me and everything I do as well as insulting Castle every chance you got, SIR!" In her eyes Gates sucked at being a precinct captain.

"Two weeks." Kate walked out and left Gates behind. Now she just had to break it to Espo, Ryan, and her dad. Oahu didn't have anything for them but that didn't mean one of the other islands didn't. She just needed to do some research and talk them into applying if they did have an opening.


	17. Chapter 17

**Moving On**

_Chapter 17_

"You're moving!?" Ryan and Espo almost got out at the same time.

"Sorry to break it to you, guys. I applied for a job and got accepted last night. I just gave Gates my two weeks resignation notice," Kate told them.

"So where are you going?" Espo asked, not sure anywhere, any place could be better than New York City.

"Honolulu." Kate saw the look of surprise.

"That sounds nice. It wouldn't take much to talk Jenny into moving. If we even thought we could afford it." Money was a little tight and she was already talking about having a baby. Babies cost money.

Kate held up a finger. "Hold that thought. Oahu isn't looking for another homicide detective, however I haven't had the time to search and see if the other islands, which are separate from Honolulu, need someone. I did find a job in Honolulu that Lanie can apply for."

"You talked Lanie into following you?" Espo was surprised.

"Well the allure of all those beach guys along with no winter did help a little," Kate admitted.

"Yeah, she would," Espo agreed easily. "So where are you living?"

"In a two bedroom apartment temporarily that Lanie might be using if she decides to come." She actually had to apply for the job let alone get hired and then move. Kate was hoping once they had done it they could help her.

"BECKETT, MY OFFICE!" Gates yelled.

"What does she want." Kate was almost gone in her mind already.

Kate showed up at her doorway. "Sir?"

"Detective, if I was hard on you or critical I was trying to get you to be better. You have an excellent record but it could be improved," Gates told her.

"No, sir, you weren't just critical. You were insulting every chance you got. You intentionally made working here an even bigger challenge. You lumped in insulting Castle with me most times as well. I allowed Castle to follow me around. I didn't force him on you.

"Run your precinct any way you please, just don't be surprised if the people working here don't like working for you. I've already sent my two week resignation and my reasoning to 1PP.

"Two weeks. SIR!" Kate turned and left without asking if Gates was done with her.

Kate went back to Espo and Ryan. "Give me a chance and I'll send you what I find, if anything. You don't have to do anything," she said quietly and went to sit at her desk. She still had a lot of paperwork to fill out.

"I already know what Jenny will say," Ryan told his partner.

"Hawaii's expensive, bro," Espo pointed out.

"And this city isn't?" Ryan retorted.

"I don't know, bro. This is home. I'm not getting married and trying to make her happy. I just have to make me happy," Espo remarked.

"None of us are going to be happy if we don't finish this paperwork and get it to Gates." Ryan went back to work.

"Maybe a transfer instead of moving to Hawaii," Espo half said to himself as he started on his paperwork. He didn't have as much trouble with Gates as Kate did that he could tell. But she got her nickname for a reason and so far she was proving it was justified. He just didn't know what to do except go with it. He'd had officers in the military that he hadn't liked but you didn't just abandon them because they were jerks.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate slapped her last piece of paper down and sighed. She was done and was sure she had gotten it all correct even if it had been a complex case. "No more frozen bodies, please."

"How you two doing?" Kate called out to the guys.

Espo shook his head since he was still working at it.

"Jenny wants to know the cost," Ryan said.

"As soon as I find out I'll let you know. Olga's handling all that." Then an idea occurred to her. "You know if there's a job offer and you apply and get accepted, we might be able to delay our move. Then you just pay to move from your apartment to ours and it all goes into the same container. It might reduce the costs. I'll talk to Olga to see what she thinks." It might work and then it might not. She really didn't know how moving there was going to work.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate found Olga down in her craft room and she saw a dress on a mannequin of sorts. She also didn't see the coat any longer. "Where's the coat? Did you sell it?" It meant more money and it also meant Olga was good at it and might be able to make a living doing it.

"Sold it. The next time you see it it'll be on a runway somewhere. The car's gone, too. This big 18-wheeler showed up and it was wheeled into the enclosed trailer for its trip down to Florida." Olga stopped working on the dress so she could look at her.

"Florida?" Kate didn't know who bought it or where he or she lived but Florida wasn't one of them. She was thinking California.

"It's where he lives. Though it might be in Dubai next for all I know." She wasn't sure she could see it being driven around in Florida.

"You going to miss it?" She hadn't even gotten to drive it. She had managed to start it up a couple of times but that was all.

"A little. It wasn't really a very practical car anyway." Olga had a sudden inspiration. "Hey, how about a speed boat next?"

"How about we get the big boat first before we go buying another one," Kate responded.

"How did Gates take it? …And the others?" Olga inquired as Kate came much closer so she could get her kiss.

"Pretty sure I shocked Gates. She actually made a mild attempt at talking me out of it. She still doesn't understand that she was insulting, not just critical." Kate shook her head.

"I think Lanie's going to apply for the ME position. I was wondering if she could stay in the second bedroom of the apartment. She could save up some money that way," Kate asked her since she'd already offered that to Lanie.

Olga didn't mind in the least. "I have no objection."

"As for the guys I don't think Espo's all that interested. Ryan's girlfriend Jenny is interested, I think. It's just Ryan and Espo are partners. One might not want to leave the other, but I guess we'll see. I need to find him a job to apply for first." Kate wasn't sure she could do even that.

"It's looking nice." Kate changed the topic as she walked around the dress Olga was working on. "Um, just who is exactly supposed to wear this dress?" Kate asked now that she was seeing it almost finished. It was full of colors. Mostly blues, greens, yellows with a touch of red, purple and even a touch of orange on the shoulders. It was practically see through if it actually wasn't totally see through.

"Probably no one. This one's meant strictly for fun. Unless someone isn't bashful. Still it might end up on a runway somewhere," Olga replied.

"I think I'm bashful enough not to wear that just anywhere," Kate stated and put her hand under a piece of it. She could clearly see it even if it was full of colors.

Olga chuckled. "You and me both. But I'm almost done. Did you get a new case?" Olga was finding that she was learning to like hearing about her cases.

"No, it was all paperwork from the last one. Maybe tomorrow. …Dinner?" Kate watched her shake her head. Olga had obviously been down here most of the day.

"I'll get it started," Kate said and kissed her but then stopped. "It's too late now but this place could really use a set of stairs on the inside." Instead of going outside all the time. Especially when it was raining or snow was on the ground.

"When it was very first planned I was thinking I would need two rentals instead of just one. Then I didn't so I converted it into this. I hadn't planned for it to be this big." She wasn't sure how she was going to decide what went and what stayed, either.

Still it was enough for Kate so she went upstairs and started dinner for both of them.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"What have you leaned about the cost of moving? Ryan thinks that might be the determining factor for him and Jenny who is his girlfriend." Kate asked while they eat what Kate had made.

"The car will take about twenty-one days from here. It has to be almost empty of gas and it'll only cost about $1500 to ship. As for everything else that kind of depends on how much we'll be taking. If we have a lot we could use a shipping container. We could even share the container with others to reduce costs. If it's little enough we could use a pod. That might run us about another $1500. The biggest cost is getting us there." Olga shook her head.

"What if they have more stuff?" Kate had no idea just how much Ryan would be shipping.

"From what I can find the average cost to ship the contents of a three bedroom house is $5000 to $10,000. If your friend can sell all that they can they could use a pod like we'll probably be using," Olga said.

"I'll tell him. When are we leaving?" Kate asked.

"You're leaving in just under three weeks. If the house or your apartment hasn't sold yet then I'll be staying until it does. You have a job to get to." Olga had been trying to plan this out.

Kate opened her mouth to protest but knew she was right.

"I'll be there as soon as I can. We do need to start packing what we're taking soon. I'll order a pod delivered a little before you leave and we can load it." Olga was trying to get it all coordinated. It was just that there was so much to do.

Kate felt like she wasn't doing anything to help. It was just that she kept going to her job while Olga was at home alone, leaving her to do everything.

"I wish I could help. I feel like I'm doing nothing." Kate just didn't know what she could do about it. Not until she got a day off.

"Just don't get fired. Honolulu finds out and they might change their minds." That would be all Olga needed. "I got this place built and moved into it. I've done this before."

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate was smiling as she stepped out onto the homicide floor. They'd had two rounds of sex early today and she couldn't remember feeling this good in the morning. She had even stopped and gotten some real coffee.

She was even surprised that Ryan and Espo were already here. That almost never happened.

"What are you two doing here so early?" Kate took off her coat and dropped her stuff at her desk.

"I didn't finish my paperwork before leaving," Espo admitted.

"Jenny wants to know the costs so I thought I could figure it out before starting the day," Ryan said.

"I already know. Found out last night. About $1500 for one car. A three bedroom apartment can be $5000 to $10000. Though if you sell enough to reduce the amount for a pod you can reduce that to $1500. I don't know airline costs yet or apartment costs. Either Olga's handling that or we haven't gotten that far. And I forgot to look at the other islands for a job. I'm so sorry." It was going to have to wait until she got home tonight.

"Jenny just wants cost. We haven't talked much past that yet." Ryan didn't mind; then his phone rang.

"We got a body." He had a Post-it note with the address in his hand.

It was time to get to work. "Looks like you finish that when we get back," Kate told Espo.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"I need to chisel her out first but I'm pretty sure she was shot to death," Lanie said.

"I thought the time for cement overshoes was over," Castle commented. Except all of her was in concrete, not just her feet.

"Two slugs in the dirt. Looks like a 9 millimeter. The guy is a pro. Double tap. One in the back of the head. She falls and one more just to make sure and buries her." Ryan had the slugs in a plastic bag.

"Then waits for the cement truck in the morning to finish the job." Kate was keeping up easily.

"Jayne Hurtsfield. A college student isn't your common mob hit victim."

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"I'm putting the time of death between 10:00 pm and 12:00 midnight. Then I found this." Lanie took Kate over to the body that was now out of the concrete.

"Bruising. No more than a day old." Lanie held up her right arm to show Kate and Castle. "Also I found traces of cocaine on her shirt. But her tox screen was clean. No drugs or alcohol."

"The killer may have left it behind," Castle suggested.

"From the look of it she knew she was going to die. I found this clutched in her fist." Lanie showed Kate a necklace that had a cross attached to it.

"He let her say a prayer before he shot her? That's not very professional," Castle stated since it was actually touching.

It did tell Kate something. "No. It means Jayne knew her killer."

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Meet Finn McQueen. He's been charged with cocaine possession with intent. Not a good boyfriend or ex-boyfriend." Ryan already didn't like this guy.

Castle read over Kate's shoulder. "Nothing about a gun."

"It gets better. His parole officer says he is working a job. …Construction." Meaning concrete and how it all works.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate and Castle were watching Ryan and Espo interrogate Finn when Kate got a call.

"You're sure? That there's no mistake?" Kate turned to look at Castle totally dumbfounded. It forced her to interrupt the interrogation by knocking on the glass.

Espo and Ryan responded, "Finn was this close to confessing." Espo didn't understand the interruption.

"What?" Ryan could tell Kate was pissed as hell.

"Ballistics just came in. The bullets that killed Jayne are in our system. It's from a Glock 17. Ryan, it's a match to your old service weapon."

Ryan felt a concrete block hit him right in the gut. "That can't be right!"

"There's no mistake. The weapon that killed Jayne…, it's yours," Kate told all of them since this was the first Castle was hearing it. Ryan was ready to throw up.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"According to her credit cards Jayne spent most of yesterday in Grand Central Station." Espo handed Kate the list.

"She spent her day at a train station and spent $800." What the heck did she buy?

Q**/\**Q /W\ Q**/\**Q /W\ Q**/\**Q

"Phone records to a bar several times." Espo handed over the paperwork.

Q**/\**Q /W\ Q**/\**Q /W\ Q**/\**Q

"Yeah, I remember her. She came in with Seth," the bartender said.

"This Seth?" Ryan held up a picture of Jerry Tyson.

"No, that's not him. Seth's a regular. But if you want to talk to him just stick around he'll be soon. He uses that phone over there a lot." He looked at the pay phone behind him.

"He gets here about 3:00. Stay if you want but I got to get back to work." He left them.

"Sounds like drugs. I'm betting cocaine," Ryan offered.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Ryan and Kate were waiting for Seth. "I don't get it. What's a drug dealer doing with my gun?" Jerry Tyson had it last he knew. "Jerry Tyson always has a plan. So maybe Seth is a patsy."

"Police, stop!" Kate yelled at him until he practically ran into Espo in the car.

Espo had him up against his car and found a weapon tucked into the back of his waistband. "Glock 17. You got a permit for this?" Espo was hoping he didn't.

"As a matter of fact I do. Detective Seth Carver, Narcotics. Now do me a favor and put the cuffs on me and get me out of here before you four idiots blow my cover," Seth fumed.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Let me guess, everyone including her mom said Jayne was a saint. All I know is that I pulled her over and found cocaine in her glove compartment," Seth explained.

"But you didn't bust her. There's nothing in the report." Ryan thought he was lying.

"Right, because when I asked her where the coke came from she told me Ben Lee," Seth told Ryan and Espo.

"Who's Ben Lee?" Ryan had never heard the name before.

Seth snorted; these two were idiots. "Son of Clifford Lee. He's the head of the Hi Yee Tong.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Ben, they were learning, was a young kid surrounded by more senior Tong members in a Tong restaurant. Ben admitted that he was using Jayne as a tutor. Sometimes at school, sometimes at his place.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Ryan slammed down his phone. "The entire household staff swears that the whole family was home watching television when Jayne was killed."

"That's not overly surprising. Hey, how did it go at Central?" Kate meant Grand Central Station since that was where Espo had gone.

"Good! I found this. The tag says it belong to Jayne." Espo put down a good-sized sports bag.

Ryan searched the bag. "Men's clothes and toiletries."

"And two train tickets to Phoenix for the night she died. She was looking to get out of town but she wasn't going alone." Espo had Ryan take them from him.

"No names. So who was she going with?" Ryan put them back in the jacket.

Espo had found one more thing. "There was also an asthma inhaler, but Jayne didn't have asthma. So maybe it belongs to our guy."

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

They had Finn back in interrogation again because they'd found a Glock 17 under his mattress with the numbers filed off.

"That's not the gun. Ballistics came back. It's not a match. It's not my gun." Ryan had hit another dead end as well and it was pissing him off.

Castle walked in with his box filled with of four years of files. "I know who the killer is."

"Just give me name." Kate wasn't interested in one of his wild theories.

"Jin High Lee Chang." Rick had a story and he wanted to tell it.

Kate had never heard the name before. "Okay, start from the beginning." She was going to hate this, she was sure of it.

"3XK would never give that gun to a friend. It would be a curse. But he would give it to an enemy. Four years of reports of Jerry Tyson being in prison showed that. Jerry got into it in the yard and got his nose broken. By one Jin High Lee Chang." Rick pulled out a photo. "Look familiar?"

"That's Phillip. Clifford Lee's older son." They'd just seen him in the restaurant, glaring at them like they were scum.

"If they are enemies, Tyson sold him my gun." Ryan was following.

"And when Phillip found out that Jayne was an informant, he killed her." Kate could see it.

Espo had his own name. "Actually it might be more personal than that. That inhaler had a bar code. That led us to another Chen. Better known as Ben Lee."

"She was leaving town to go to Phoenix with Ben," Kate said.

"So a new Romeo and Juliet," Castle pronounced.

"Jayne tried to convert him from being an evil killer," Kate hypothesized.

"Except there's no leaving a Chinese gang. You're in for life the second you're born." Ryan knew that.

"I like it but what we need is evidence. Something that can be used to make this case stick. That or witnesses." Kate sighed. She was tired and wanted this case solved.

Ryan had an idea. "I think I know someone who can help."

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"The truth, Finn. A juvenile report from '66. You got grabbed for moving paper for a Chinese bookie. You remember who bailed you out? One Clifford Lee. You've been working for the Lees for years. Little jobs because, let's face it, Finn, you're kind of a screw up. But you wanted more. That's when you knew Ben Lee needed a tutor you recommended your ex. Thinking it would earn you points with the family.

"And you watched it all go sideways. Jayne and Ben fell in love and decided to leave town. You thought what if the family blamed you! Because no one leaves the family business, not even for love. So you tried to make her change her mind. You fought on video and you couldn't change her mind. So you made a call to Phillip. Phillip went and got Jayne." Ryan slammed the cross in a plastic bag he had pulled from evidence onto his cage wall.

"I talked to her mother. She says you gave this cross to Jayne on her 21st birthday. She was clutching it when she died. For comfort. Because she knew she was gonna die. She was so afraid and you killed her." Ryan was done with this piece of scum.


	18. Chapter 18

**Moving On**

_Chapter 18_

As Kate expected Gates dressed them all down and insulted Castle for even opening his mouth. Ryan complained that not keeping the heat on the Lees made them clerks, not cops. She ordered him to take the rest of the day off. Kate let her office door slam behind her when she left last.

"The only ones who know for sure are the Lees and we can't even be found outside of any place they live or work," Kate complained. Gates had just put cuffs on all of them and yet expected them to solve the case with nothing to solve it with.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Detective Ryan!" Gates called out. Everyone looked and waited for Gates to tell him and Espo that they were suspended until she decided if they should be fired for what they had just done. "There is someone here to see you."

Instead they saw Ben Lee walk up from behind Gates to stand next to her. He looked really nervous and yet all four of them, especially Ryan were smiling. Ryan had reached him.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

They had wanted Phillip to admit to killing Jayne on tape, however they were forced to use plan B and shoot Ben and have Phillip watch him die in front of his eyes.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate had enough to put Phillip away for murder one. "My client has information you might like to hear." His attorney knew he was guilty and would be found guilty. But he still had a card to play.

"Jerry Tyson. 3XK. I know where he was going and what name he was using," Phillip told Kate and whoever was listening behind the glass.

"So Lee wants 15 to 25 with parole in exchange for Jerry Tyson. I think I can get the DA to take it," Kate said to Castle since Ryan and Espo were presently missing since they had other things to do.

"No, giving a good deal to Phillip in exchange for bad information given that Tyson plans everything is a bad plan." Rick hated it.

"You're sure?" Kate asked him.

"Sure enough. Jayne deserves justice and letting Phillip go in exchange for nothing isn't justice." Rick knew what they should do but it wasn't up to him.

"We'll get 3XK but we do it our way and not fall for one of his traps. Life in prison for Phillip." It was all Rick could see happening.

"Look at you, Castle. Thinking like a cop. Maybe your book might be worth reading after all." Kate smiled at him since finally she didn't hate him.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Am I really better than Seth Carver?" He had talked Ben to go in there and risk his life. If that shot had missed the target he would be dead. Or if his brother had actually shot him he would be dead.

"You're better. You didn't send him in there alone like Carver did so he could make points." Espo argued. "HEY, There's your boy." Espo pointed at Ben and the marshal with him.

"Thank you." Ben knew it was because of Ryan.

"You have your life back now. You get to live it on your own terms, not your father's and not the family's. Just the way Jayne would have wanted it."

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"So the Tong didn't give you any trouble," Olga commented as Kate walked into the house.

"No, it wasn't easy on Ben Lee or Ryan but it all worked out. Phillip's in prison for life. Ben gets his life back just the way Jayne would have wanted it. It's just sad that he gets to do it alone." Kate felt really bad about that.

"Not just those two. It was hard sitting at home knowing you were going up against the Lee family. Still it taught me a lesson," Olga admitted even it it had been painful.

Kate smiled as she embraced her. "And what was that?"

"Trusting you and the people you work with. I'm so used to trusting just myself. I even question the country that hires me. It's what keeps me alive," Olga said.

"Good." Kate was happy, in love, and couldn't wait to move. So she kissed her. "I saw the pod in the driveway." It had forced her to park on the street. "And are those what I think they are?" She spotted two piles of flattened boxes still bound up.

"We need to get started packing soon. Though we also need to spend tonight cleaning. Our first open house is tomorrow. If you still have tomorrow off we need to clean your place and the first showing for it will be later tomorrow." They were about to be busy.

"I have to finish the paperwork for the last case but after that I'm all yours. I can meet you at my place when I'm done," Kate offered.

"I'll need keys. Just to be legal." Olga could get in without them but didn't need for someone to call the police on her. Kate got them out and held them out for her to snatch from her.

"The boxes go in the garage and we need to get busy cleaning. We're ordering take out for delivery tonight so we don't make a mess," Olga told her.

"Chinese!?" Kate had her favorite choices and watched Olga smile. "There better be Chinese in Honolulu." She was going to make sure Olga suffered if there wasn't.

"Please! They have Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and any other _ese_ you can think of. We definitely won't starve. You can start in the master bathroom and I'll take the kitchen." Olga kissed her again and they separated to get ready for their first showing.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

They were sitting at the dining room table taking a break and eating dinner before going back to cleaning. "I need to look for something on the other islands for Ryan and Jenny if they can afford it and want to come," Kate commented.

"It's upstairs; I printed it out for you. I only found the one and it's in Maui, but the offer closes soon so you need to take it with you in the morning. If he wants it he needs to apply immediately," Olga said.

"Thanks!" Olga really was amazing.

"What about your friend Lanie?" Olga did want for her to see if her friends would join them. She didn't want them being left behind and have her feeling alone in Honolulu. "And your dad."

"I haven't asked. I'll do that tomorrow, too." Kate added that to her list. "I need you to give me the phone number for your parents. Maybe I can talk them into coming to Hawaii when you can't. It doesn't have to be Honolulu. They have planes for short hops and we'll have a boat. That I can't pilot." Kate laughed at herself for that.

Olga got up, found a pen and paper, wrote it down, and gave it to Kate. "I wish you luck. Just remember they may have been born in Russia but they're more French then anything."

"Do they speak Russian?" Maybe Kate could use that.

"They each speak the same languages I do," Olga confirmed.

"Do they know what you do for a living?" Did she have to avoid that topic with her parents?

"To prevent them from killing me, you better believe they don't." Olga didn't dare tell them.

"Coward," Kate smiled as she teased her. Olga clucked like a chicken and Kate laughed hard at her.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate was sure she smelled liked cleaner and couldn't even smell Olga since she had used the same cleaner. Both were asleep the second their heads hit their pillows. Sore muscles and all.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate was snacking on some honeydew melon while chewing on toast and drowning it all with coffee. "What is this coffee?" It tasted different from anything she had tasted so far.

"The last one was Kona coffee. This one is Kauai coffee. I thought we should try them before we got there and see if we liked any of them. There are different flavors to try," Olga informed her.

"Well Kona is off the list." She had stopped drinking at home because of it. "This one isn't bad, so what else have you got?"

"I'll get the other one out tomorrow. Do you have coffee at your place that's worth drinking?" Olga inquired and Kate shook her head. "I'll bring it with me along with the boxes and cleaning supplies. We can meet right after lunch if that's enough time for your paperwork."

"I'll call you if I need more time to finish." Kate kissed her before leaving.

"Maui job?" Olga yelled at her and saw Kate wave it at her as she went out the front door.

Olga gathered up some boxes and went down to her craft room. She had to decide what was going and what was staying until the realtor showed up to open the house for viewing.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate was busy with her paperwork when Castle sat down. "Excellent timing, Mr. Castle. Just in time to do your part of the paperwork for yesterday's case." Kate told him and smiled when she saw him fidget.

"I just remembered, Alexis wanted me to do something." Rick was up and out of his chair and walking quickly to the elevator. "Enjoy." And Rick willed the elevator door to close faster.

"Thought that might get rid of him," Kate mostly said to herself.

"Castle isn't that bad." Espo was warming up to him being there. He'd actually been helpful on the last case.

"You weren't here the very first time he tried to do this. Or were you?" Kate glared at him and grinned after he quickly turned around and went back to his paperwork.

Kate had something to do. So she was up and placed the paper in front of Ryan. "The job offer closes in two days so if you want it you need to be fast. I don't know any more than what it says."

"You leaving us too, bro?" Espo was starting to feel abandoned.

"It's all Jenny talks about. She's already looking up costs of apartments, cost of gas, cost of food, and trying to find a job for herself. She's even talking about living in a swimsuit all day. And don't get me started on wedding venues." Ryan rolled his eyes.

"You asked her to marry you?" Kate hadn't heard about that yet.

"I haven't yet, but that isn't stopping her. I just haven't gotten around to it yet." Ryan was simply dragging his feet and he didn't really have a good reason.

"Sounds like you better hurry up," Kate advised him. "It's the only one I found. Sorry, Javi."

"That's okay, I haven't given up on this place yet." Espo was staying until something changed his mind.

"Where is Gates anyway?" Kate hadn't seen her after getting there.

"She said something about a meeting at 1PP. She didn't say when she would be back," Ryan replied.

"I better finish then. Let me know how it goes." Kate left both of them and went back to her desk.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate was done and dropped off her paperwork in Gates's office and left to go to her place to meet up with Olga.

Kate used her key and found Olga in the kitchen scrubbing away. "Vacuum cleaner," Olga pointed and went back to scrubbing.

"Nice to see you, too." Kate headed for her vacuum cleaner and turned it on. "I didn't even get a kiss."

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They had been at it for two hours. They were finally in each others arms and smiling at the other when there was a knock on the door. "So much for breaking in your bed," Olga teased her and looked through the peep hole then opened it since it was a woman holding papers in her arms.

"Katherine Beckett?" she asked.

Kate joined them. "That's me."

"I'm Anna Blackridge. I'm the realtor that will be here for the open house. I brought a lock box with me for your key." She showed them the box. "I also need you to look this over and make sure everything is accurate." She had several copies of the listing to hand out to everyone that showed up.

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"Where should we go now? Our place is having an open house and your place is having an open house and I'm not very interested in meeting your Captain Gates again." Olga wasn't sure where to go. She hadn't planned this part out.

"We can go see my dad. Find out if he actually called anyone and find out what they said if anything," Kate offered.

"Lead the way." Olga motioned for her to go first. "What did my parents say?"

"I haven't called them yet. I can do that from Dad's place," Kate said.

"Uh-huh." Olga was betting it was because she was just as chicken.

"I was busy doing paperwork so I could come here and help clean." Kate had a reason even if it was a weak one. She really wasn't sure what Olga's parents were going to say or why they wanted to stay in Montreal so badly.

"Right!" Olga wasn't buying it and ignored the look Kate gave her.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Hi, Dad." Kate was happy to see him home when they arrived.

"Katie. And you brought Olga with you this time. What has you two out?" Jim wasn't expecting either of them.

"You're with me." Olga slipped an arm through one of his and took him over to the sofa. "Kate has a phone call to make." Olga smiled at her and Kate scowled at her but went a bedroom to make the call.

"So what's happening?" Jim was curious.

"Kate thinks she can convince my parents to move to Hawaii with us when I've already failed. They love Montreal and weren't interested in moving anywhere," Olga explained with a twinkle in her eye.

"Well if anyone can convince them to move, it's Katie." Jim had been on the receiving end of her desires before.

"And what about you? Have you made a few phone calls?" Olga questioned him.

"I did make a couple of phone calls. Answered their questions and sent them what they both asked for. I haven't heard anything back yet, but it's still early," Jim confirmed. "Katie tells me she got her job. So what exactly do you do?" What he knew about was far above his daughter's pay so how did Olga get her money?

"I quit my previous job and now I'm dedicating myself to designing clothing full time," Olga told him. "I think I have a few pictures." Olga pulled out her phone and scrolled for a few seconds. "Here's one." Olga gave her phone to him.

"It's a coat. …Looks nice." He was a guy what did he know about woman's fashion? Maybe if his wife was here. Then he watched her reach and swipe to another picture. "Bold." It looked short and was full of color.

"I just finished that one. I haven't sold it yet," Olga said.

"So who buys stuff like this?" He hadn't seen woman wearing anything like this dress.

"Clothing designers that show what they can do on a runway. Now how they make money I have no idea, to be honest. I sell it to them then they claim it for themselves and are free to duplicate it to their heart's content," Olga explained and took her phone back.

"Wait until you see my next one. It's going to be half dress and half medieval armor is the best way to describe it. Naturally it won't be actual armor, but it will emulate the look of armor. I'm still in the drawing phase for that one," Olga admitted.

"So do you make or design normal clothing? Something that a place like Macy's would sell, maybe?"

"Where's the fun in that? Any grandmother in Indiana can design and sew that kind of clothing. I want to make peoples' eyes pop," Olga explained, her eyes sparkling.

"You're certainly accomplishing that," Jim had to admit.

"Thank you, you're sweet." Olga would kiss his cheek but wasn't sure he would approve. "So even if you don't get a job you're at least coming to the wedding, aren't you?"

"I wouldn't miss it. I finally get to walk her down the aisle. Just how is this going to work?" Katie was marrying a woman and not being walked down to a man who would be waiting.

"We haven't talked about that yet. Or exactly where or what dresses we'll be wearing. We've still got a long ways to go. I would think you walk Kate and my father walks me. Either one behind the other or side by side," Olga was guessing.

"So your parents know about Katie?" Meaning their daughter was marrying a woman and not a man.

"Oh, yes. I've told them everything. They may not want to live in Hawaii but they are coming to the wedding. We just have to figure out where that will be." Olga had actually told her parents everything, save for what she really did for a living.

"So when does Katie start her job and when are you two moving?" Jim was wondering about the timing of it all.

"Kate starts at the first of the month, so about three weeks from now more or less. She's leaving in a week while I stay behind and get everything sold. Once that's done I'll join her there. She'll probably have started her job by then. It's going to take a little short of a month to get my car there so she's supposed to be thinking about how she gets around before it gets there. Both of our places are being shown today. Right now, actually. If we're lucky they'll go fast or I might be here a little longer then we're thinking." Olga had no idea how long this was going to take.

"I'm sure Katie will miss her friends." She actually had a few even if they were all at work.

"Maybe not as much as you think. Kate has found a job for her friend Lanie and another homicide detective job in Maui for another. We just don't know if either of them are going to be offered the job or if they'll take it or even apply for them," Olga told him.

"Really!?" Jim liked the sound of that. "Move her entire precinct from New York to Hawaii. You two planning on leaving anyone behind?" Jim teased her.

"We're only trying to get you three to go with us. I'm sure New York City won't miss you much." Olga was happy a few of her friends were at least thinking about it.

Then they both watched Kate come back and plop into an open chair. "Your parents are stubborn." Kate had tried everything she could think of and had gotten nowhere at all.

"I warned you," Olga reminded her and Kate glared back at her.


	19. Chapter 19

**Moving On**

_Chapter 19_

Kate had the next day off, however both she and Olga had to leave their home when the real estate agent had called to warn them she was having another open house today. Then they found out that they couldn't go to her place since that real estate agent was doing the same thing.

"Now what?" They had Olga's car so they could at least go where they wanted.

"Impromptu date?" Kate suggested.

"Hmm." Olga liked the idea but needed to come up with something for them to do. "Billiards, bowling, or ping pong. That or we go skinny dipping," Olga said and smiled at her.

"Wow, tempting. We could go motorcycle shopping. Get you a Harley so you can ride with me," Kate offered and smiled sweetly at her since she knew Olga wouldn't go for it.

Olga shot that down quickly. "I'll pass, thanks. Skydiving, maybe?"

"You mean like actually jump out of a perfectly good airplane? I might be brave but I'm not that kind of brave. …Or suicidal." Kate shot that idea down just as fast.

"Helicopter tour?" Olga offered.

Kate actually thought about that one. She had lived in New York City all her life. Did she really need to see it from the air? "Billiards it is, then." Kate used the GPS in the car and found what they needed so Olga drove off.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate soon realized that Olga was a good shot. She had the cue ball going perfectly straight to where she wanted it to go. She was even using the bumpers to get her shots. Then Kate finally saw flaw in her skill. She didn't know how to make the cue ball do things. Olga was hitting it in the center but never tried to get the cue ball to do a back spin or anything else. That gave Kate an idea. If she couldn't make a shot she would make sure the cue ball was in a position that would required her to make the cue ball do something special.

While that did help it didn't prevent Olga from winning the first two games. Finally the third went the way Kate wanted it to go.

"You've had some practice at this game." Olga had watched her make the cue ball do things that she couldn't.

"I may have played this game once or twice," Kate admitted, grinning, and watched Olga glare at her. "Bowling next?" Olga asked and Kate nodded.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Again Kate found that Olga rolled the ball perfectly straight. Time and time again. Kate knew how to make the ball spin, though. However, while going perfectly straight it didn't prevent Olga from getting strikes. It did cause her to leave some interesting pins behind that proved to be a challenge for her.

All Kate had to do was get the ball to spin when and where she wanted it to and she proved more apt to get strikes when she didn't leave a solid ten pin.

This time Kate won the first three but lost the last game. But by now both of their right wrists were showing signs of muscle strain and moving on to the ping pong game was rejected.

Once they were finally home after stopping to get something to eat they found the real estate lady gone. "You better not groan into my ear all night after that massive burger you ate," Olga cautioned and teased her.

"I happen to like a nice big greasy cheese burger from time to time. You don't know what you're missing." Kate wasn't concerned.

"What I'm missing is feeling my arteries hardening," Olga countered. "But they're your arteries and your stomach and heartburn." All Olga got in return was Kate sticking her tongue out at her.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate had six more days of work when she made it to her desk the next day. With her paperwork done from the last case she had nothing to do until a new case came in.

Kate jumped just a little when Castle landed on his chair with a thud. "Nothing yet?" Rick was ready for the next one.

"You don't have to be so ready for a dead body, Castle. It means someone's dead and a family's hurting." Kate didn't see the need for such enthusiasm.

"I know. But you tend to get the really weird ones." Rick was learning a lot.

"That's because the weird ones require more. They reveal more. Some may prefer a simple Jack shot Jill and go home. Those aren't any fun," Kate told him.

"Don't listen to her. Beckett is just weird. She isn't going to have any fun in Hawaii." Espo headed to his desk.

"Hawaii? You going on vacation?" Rick asked.

"No, I'm moving there. I put in my two week resignation notice just over a week ago. I'm sure I told you." Kate was pretty sure but things had been moving rather fast of late.

"No, you didn't. …Hawaii? What's in Hawaii?" Besides lots and lots of women wearing bikinis. Maybe even ones with some really big tits.

"My new job and my fiancée," Kate replied. "You're sure I didn't tell you?"

"Yes, very." Rick was very, very sure.

"Well, you know now," Kate said just as Gates stopped at her desk on the way to her office.

"Beckett, Mr. Castle. My office." Gates strode to her office, sat down behind her desk, and waited.

"Something tells me this isn't going to be good. My spidey senses are tingling," Rick said and yet he stood up.

"You weren't bitten by a radioactive spider and besides, that's not how it works. The radiation would just kill you." Kate stood up but was silently agreeing that this wasn't going to be good.

"Sir." Kate went in first with Castle right behind her.

"My meeting at 1PP was enlightening. It seems you didn't just give them your resignation. You told them why." Gates was beyond pissed at Kate. If it wasn't against the law she would shoot her.

"I told them the truth. That's the difference. You have the right to run your precinct the way you wish just like Roy did. There's nothing that says the people under you have to like it. Roy was, in the end, a bad cop but he was a hell of a captain. This precinct's record and closure rate proves that. You're not why I'm leaving, but you're a part of it. This job is hard enough without how you treat the people under you," Kate told her and except for Espo's sake and everyone else in this precinct, she hoped Gates changed the way she did things.

"You are correct, Detective, I will run this precinct in a manner that I see fit until I'm relieved of duty. You have six days remaining and you're going to spend them at your desk. When we get a case that is where you will be helping from. Do I make myself clear?" Gates was angry but ordered not to do anything.

"Yes, sir." Kate saw herself as being effectively fired.

"Mr. Castle, you also have six days. At the end of them you will never set foot inside this precinct ever again. I don't care what the mayor says or does. You also are forbidden from going to any site for any case. You leave this office and it better be because you went home, Do I make myself clear?" Gates hated him even more than she disliked Kate now.

"Yes, sir." It was over and he could only hope he had enough to do at least one book.

"Good. Now get out of my office and close the door on your way out," Gates said.

Kate let it slam closed behind her. "She sounded angry," Rick offered as he went to his seat.

"You think!" But instead of going to her desk she moved to Espo's desk and saw Ryan was there, too.

"Gates is really, really angry and I'm betting she's going to take it out on this precinct. You two can do what you want but I would strongly suggest that you get the hell out of this precinct as fast as you can." There, Kate had done all that she could. Ryan had a job he could apply for and she could only hope that Espo either kept looking or at least got a transfer.

Kate went to her desk and sat down. It looked like she would be staying at it until her last day.

"Did you get what you needed, Castle? For your book," Kate asked him since he was going to be gone, too. Though she had kind of guessed that after she was gone so was he. The deal was that he follow her around. If she wasn't here to follow around, Gates would throw him out.

"I think so. …Thanks." He still had six days so maybe he could still learn something and maybe actually help. Kate really hadn't had to let him but she had.

"I'll keep my eyes open for your next book." Kate turned to look at her monitor. There wasn't much to do until they had a case.

"I am truly sorry for how I behaved when we first met. That was a different me." Rick knew in some ways he still was that person, however he had changed somewhat. Doing this job had woken him up. Though Alexis had drilled him before he had gotten here his first day.

"I need coffee." Kate stood up to go to the breakroom.

"I'll get it. I don't know what that is in there but it isn't coffee. Maybe I should get them an espresso machine before I leave. Something to remember me by." Rick got up and went to the elevator to go to the closest coffee shop.

"Thanks, Castle." Real coffee would be good.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"We've got a body," Ryan announced as he put his phone down and joined his temporary partner.

"Aren't you two coming?" Espo stopped since neither Rick or Kate even tried to stand up.

"We have our orders. We're both chained to my desk for the next six days until my two week notice resignation is over. Then we're both gone," Kate replied. "Gates's order. …I told you she was angry."

"Sorry bro, but Jenny wants to go to Hawaii if I get the job," Ryan told Espo as they went down in the elevator to get to their car. Rick was well aware of the saying _happy wife, happy life. _Jenny wanted to be happy in Hawaii so that was where they were going if they could.

Espo wondered just what he was going to do on the drive out to the site. At the moment he had no idea.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

They'd been gone for a few hours and Kate was tired of watching Rick pace the floor. "Sit down, Castle. You're damaging the floors." He was also getting on her nerves with his pacing.

"I can't. If I knew it was going to be this boring I would have downloaded a new game into my phone. Except it would run down the battery and I didn't bring my charger. These six days are going to be hell." Rick was sure he was going to lose his mind.

"You could always just go home and not come back. I'm sure Gates wouldn't mind," Kate reminded him.

"Definitely not. She might ultimately win but I'm not going down that easily." Rick would stick it out for the six days. He just wouldn't be here for the paperwork. Kate was silently proud of him.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

The guys were finally back and Kate and Castle had something to direct their attention to at last.

"Meet Brian Hayes, 39, director of the museum." Espo put a picture up on the white board.

"Ouch!" Rick looked it over. "Looks like somebody gave him liberty and death." He was effectively pinned to the spines from the partial head of the Statue of Liberty.

"Hayes was last seen at 10:00. His body was discovered around 10:21 so the killer must have struck within that window," Espo said.

"Rather ballsy to kill him during the showing," Kate commented since she had by now learned the museum was open and showing.

"My money is that he walked in on the other crime being committed today. Meet the Fist of Capitalism." Espo put up another picture followed by a picture of it now empty. "$50 million. $30 million in the diamonds alone."

"They had a security system that failed to function. The museum is looking into why it failed," Espo added.

"It gets better." Ryan put up a picture. "Meet one Serena Kaye, the museum's insurance investigator. She gets 1% of anything recovered."

Kate saw where this was going. "She effectively took over. She believes that the thief came through the ceiling. One of the air ducts or something. Disabled the security system, stole the fist, then left with it disguised as a caterer. She even suspects he even had his own catering truck," Espo said.

"We're getting video of the loading dock area," Ryan noted.

"So did you two do anything at all?" Kate asked them.

"Not much, no. The insurance investigator pretty much took over and ordered us around to do what she wanted." Espo knew what it sounded like and retreated.

They then spent the rest of the day chasing dead end leads about a husband and wife that were divorcing since they owned the Fist.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Uh-oh, someone's mad." Kate had slammed the door closed after she had come home.

"Gates didn't like the report I added to my resignation notice and chained me to my desk until my last day. Worse, she chained Castle to my desk as well. I get to work on the new case but I'm confined to the floor and my desk." Kate stopped at the kitchen island which was where Olga was as she boxed up part of the kitchen.

Kate watched her get a glass and pour her a small drink. "Thanks." She really needed it. "Almost makes me want to call in sick for the next five days."

"But you won't because that's not who you are." Olga knew her well enough by now.

"Yeah. …OH and the guys let this insurance investigator take over. Then it gets better. She shows up at the precinct and Gates orders us to let her in on this case and wastes no time in praising that she could contribute something as a consultant while we had a consultant that was useless." She meant her insult of Castle yet again.

"So she hasn't changed her tune any." Olga didn't understand why but maybe Kate was right after all. She hated all cops and wanted to destroy the precinct to prove her point.

"Not one bit. …When do we move again?" Kate was ready to move now.

"You're leaving in two weeks. You're going by charter though they'll have to stop to refuel and possibly change pilots if the first pilot reaches or will reach his or her maximum amount of flight time before resting. Your ticket's upstairs.

"I also got word from both real estate agents and they said the open houses went well. No offers as of yet but both are hopeful that one will come in soon.

"We need to start packing and loading the pod. And after your last day at work we can do the same for your place or just box it and bring it over here and into this pod," Olga told her.

"I don't need any of the furniture. I'm betting my painting won't fit on the boat. All my clothes are over here already. About all that's left is the kitchen. We've cleaned out everything else. To be honest I'm not sure we need what's in my kitchen. You have everything I do plus other things," Kate commented.

"Then we box your books and movies and call it good," Olga offered as Kate finished her drink.

"What do you need my help with?" Kate meant packing.

"Craft room. I'm having trouble deciding what goes and what stays. If I'm going to be doing nothing but making clothes from now on I need to make sure I take what I need and will fit the space. I'll need your help getting one of the sewing machines into the pod," Olga said.

"I'm your girl." Kate was ready to get started. Especially if it took her mind off of Gates.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"It looks like Hayes is deeply underwater. He's been paying medical bills for his mother. We also found some emails that he tried to erase on his laptop. Something about a meeting. Which could only happen between 12:00 and 2:00 pm," Ryan said.

"Wait, I've got a phone call around that time. …It's a restaurant," Espo pointed out.

"Sounds like a good place to meet Falco that Serena says is our thief," Castle mentioned.

"Okay, Castle and I will…let you two go to the restaurant and question the staff to see who he met with." Kate remembered that she was chained to her desk.

Ryan and Espo were gone. "This really sucks." Rick was going to work the last five days he had, but that didn't mean he was going to like it.

"Tell me about it." Kate looked at Gates who was in her office at her desk.

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Ryan and Espo are back and they looked happy. "He met with Serena Kaye," Ryan said to both of them.

"Serena's our thief. …What better way to find out if the police are on to her then to force her way into their investigation." Kate almost couldn't believe it.

"And Gates loved the idea," Rick commented.

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"She is in on it!?" Gates couldn't believe this. "I want her in custody, Detective. NOW!"

"All the evidence is circumstantial, sir," Kate declared.

"Then find something concrete. I will not have this department publicly humiliated." Gates dismissed Kate who closed the door behind her.

"More like you," Kate muttered softly.

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"So how do we get her?" Ryan questioned.

"She doesn't know that we're on to her yet. So where is she?" Kate asked them.

"At her hotel," Rick mentioned. "She invited me for a drink."

"We need her out of her room so we can search it. Rick, here, invites her out for a date to get her out of the way." Kate smiled at him.

"Except I'm chained to your desk same as you are," Rick reminded her.

"So do you want to help and risk getting thrown out today or five days from now? Besides you might actually enjoy it." Kate grinned at him.

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Rick was sure he wasn't going to enjoy this date at all. That was until he saw Serena walking his way in high heels in a red dress that was strapless and her breasts were front and center.

"Maybe this won't be that bad after all." It didn't hurt that she was smiling at him already. But why did he feel nervous?


	20. Chapter 20

**Moving On**

_Chapter 20_

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_Thankfully there is a method to delete all Guest reviews before anyone sees them including me. So now they are yelling at nothing. Happy Days!_

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"So we actually have Falco." Kate liked that part.

"Except he didn't kill your guy and he didn't steal anything," Serena said firmly and held up a finger. "But he was hired to test and disable the security system and talked about a woman wearing a black dress."

"It was a black tie event. Half the women there were in black dresses. I have one at home. Every woman does," Kate countered.

"Except the video of the loading dock doesn't show any woman in black dresses leaving," Espo pointed out.

"Yeah, so how did she get The Fist out?" Kate asked.

"She didn't. It's still there somewhere," Rick maintained. Serena Kaye either hadn't found out what he had done or was overlooking it.

"Ryan, Espo, get back out the museum and this time search it with uniforms. Every square inch of it. Our thief and possible killer took it then hid it but had only minutes to do it," Kate said.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"It's mine, of course my fingerprints are all over it," she argued.

"Bloody finger prints. Hayes's blood. It's over. You know it's ironic. Your husband didn't even want it. He was using it to get his hands on what he really wanted. He was going to let you have it." She had stolen and killed it for nothing.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"So did you solve your case?" Olga was curious when Kate got home.

"We did. Turns out it was the wife - who owned it - had stolen it," Kate grinned. Olga didn't know the whole story.

"Come again?" Olga really didn't understand. If she owned it why steal it and kill to get it?

"She and her husband were going through a messy divorce and trying to keep it quiet. The husband refused to let her have The Fist because if she wanted it so badly she would let him have what he really wanted, some property somewhere. It was a bargaining chip. So she stole it and paid a guy named Falco to deactivate the security system so she could steal what was already hers.

"Hayes caught her in the act because he was paranoid about it and that someone would steal it so she killed him," Kate stated.

"People. What some of them do. That's why I only work with governments. …Did work only with governments," Olga quickly corrected herself.

"Except those governments have people behind them," Kate reminded her.

"Touché," Olga agreed which was the bad part. "So in the end he gets everything."

"It did get me thinking though. …I was wondering that maybe we should have a prenup before we get married. I mean the boat is yours, not mine. The car is yours, not mine. In fact most everything–" Olga stopped her.

"Kate. Stop worrying. That isn't going to happen to us." Olga didn't see it happening.

"But what if it does?" Kate said since she was worried.

Olga's arms slipped around her and Kate's automatically went around her. "It's never going to happen. …So what's really eating at you? It's a little early for cold feet. We haven't even had the time to talk about just when or even exactly where we're going to get married."

"Do your friends not like me?" Olga questioned, thinking maybe that was a reason.

"No! They like you and even Dad's happy for me." That definitely wasn't it.

"Then what?" Olga didn't want her worrying over this.

"I suck at relationships. I'm still convinced that I'm going to ultimately screw this up somehow." There, she'd admitted it.

"Welcome to the club," Olga said with a raised eyebrow. "Don't look so surprised. You're my first lover; I fell in love with you and asked you to marry me. You have far more experience at this than I do. Okay, so maybe the guys or girl before me didn't work out. But at least you had them. I would think that you would be more worried about me bolting than you doing something stupid."

"The thought crossed my mind." Kate didn't deny it. Olga hadn't really tested the waters with anyone like she had and yet here she was getting married.

"We can talk to a lawyer in Honolulu if it really concerns you. Just so long as you don't think I would think of leaving you with nothing should it go south. Which it won't. …Feel better now?" Olga asked her.

"Yes, thank you." Kate was satisfied with that. Olga kissed her and she kissed her back.

"Good, because if you left me I'd kill you." Olga smiled at her and laughed when Kate glared at her.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

They were done with the craft room, or so Olga had said, though there were still a couple of empty boxes down there.

Her office was out in the pod as were all of the spare bed sheets, comforters, pillows, towels, and a number of other things. Parts of the kitchen were also now out in the pod though they still needed for the kitchen to be working.

Now they were out in the garage looking things over, deciding what stayed and what went. Part of the problem was storage. The boat only had just so much storage space. "This?" Kate held something up.

"Leave it." She didn't have the skill to fix the car if something big went wrong so all the tools she had were simple ones. Those they could take with them so they went in the box.

"Tennis?" Kate picked up a racket with cobwebs in it. Olga joined her. "My mother tried to get me interested in a sport. Even Dad got in on the act. Though his ideas were more around baseball or basketball. This was after I gave up on being a ballerina. Tennis was my mother's idea. It didn't last long, either." Olga was all smiles as she remembered.

"Box, then." Kate put it in a box and made it fit by moving stuff around.

"Let me guess, you play tennis," Olga said.

"I'll clean the court with you," Kate informed her and grinned at her.

"Probably." Olga was pretty sure she sucked at tennis for some reason that escaped her. Still she left Kate and went back to searching.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Craft room is mostly done. Garage, done. Office, done. Kitchen, getting there. Bedroom and bathrooms, mostly done." Olga looked at the list.

"Apartment?" Kate queried since neither of them had even tried to get in there for days as far as she knew.

"It all stays. I don't have anything in it. If I needed storage space it either went into the garage or down into the craft room," Olga told her.

"Deck area?" Kate asked and a minute later they were both out there looking it over.

Olga walked the space. "Potted plants stay. Adirondack chairs stay. Wire chairs, bench, coffee table all stay."

"BBQ grill?" Kate questioned.

"The boat will come with one up on the control deck next to the pool with seating," Olga reminded her so it was staying. "We can take the BBQ tools, though." She watched Kate gather those up.

"Your weenie dog?" Kate was standing next to it.

"Henry!" Olga stepped over and picked him up. "I never got a dog and I love these guys. I didn't think I could keep a real dog so I got Henry. Still not sure a live dog is a good idea." They were going to be living on a boat. Not really a good place for a dog, she didn't think.

"I'm more a Lab kind of dog person. Not that I've had one," Kate told her.

That pretty much did it for the deck so back inside they went.

"What about the second den? The one with books?" Kate inquired and Olga handed her a box. Kate took the hint and went upstairs to box the books only to find one box wasn't enough.

As she got two more boxes she saw Olga very carefully boxing boxing the glass vases that were in their bedroom. She did like those. They looked special and were a light green in color.

On her way down with a box she saw something else that needed to be boxed. They looked a little like dolls under a painting. "We're going to need painting boxes," Kate said on the way to the pod.

Olga snapped her fingers. She had forgotten about those. "Your car's bigger if we can use government property for that."

"What can they do? Fire me?" Kate would get them.

"We need everything along the pink wall," Kate reminded her as she went upstairs to get another box of books.

"I'll handle it," Olga called back on her way out to the pod.

"Gun safe?" Kate asked her on the way to the pod.

"Very last thing. That's why we're both going via charter jet." Olga would be taking all of that with her when she flew out.

Kate stopped to question her. "I thought you were quitting?"

Olga paused and looked at her. "I know a lot of secrets, Kate. What if someone decides they want to know what they are?"

"What if they decide to silence you to keep them?" Kate asked worriedly, her heart pounding.

"All the more reason to take them. And no, I don't know if that will happen. For all I know the United States won't be a republic two or three presidents from now. Things change. Eventually even what I know won't be worth all that much." Olga really didn't know, but it was better to be safe than very sorry later.

Kate was now standing in front of a really big one. "What do we do with the TV?" They didn't even come close to having a box big enough.

Olga joined her to look at it. "Buy a new one, maybe. We can take the sound bar under it. Just unplug it and box it. It's good for those action movies. We need to box the player, too." Couldn't watch those movies without it.

Kate was back from the pod. "The pod's filling up fast." Kate knew a number of boxes were from her place. Most of those boxes were filled with books, movies, and bedroom and bathroom stuff.

"Good thing we're almost done, then. Just pictures, kitchen, and what's on the bed is left." Olga thought that was all that was left.

"Hopefully the trash truck will take all that stuff." They had a pile outside for them to take, Kate mentioned since she was used to dumping her trash into a bin out back.

"Maybe someone will steal it all," Olga grinned. Stranger things had happened.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate and Castle now had three days left when they didn't get a new case the next day. It allowed Kate, Ryan, and Espo to clean up some loose paperwork that needed to be attended to.

Kate and Espo watched Ryan take a call and walk away. Since it wasn't his desk phone, it wasn't a new case so Kate was betting it was Jenny.

However, Ryan was back a few minutes later and he looked a little lost. "I got the job." Ryan wasn't really sure just what to do or say.

"That's great bro!" Espo was up and hugging him and clapping him on his back. He was losing his partner but he was happy for him.

"That's great, Ryan." Kate was up and hugging him as well.

"They said they liked me because I used to work Narcotics. They talked about getting two for one out of it." Ryan had told them, of course, since it was a benefit. But he wasn't sure he wanted to work Narcotics again.

"Maui isn't New York City. I would think most of their drugs would be marijuana, or meth," Kate said.

"Yeah, not a lot of gangs out there," Espo quickly agreed.

"I have to tell Jenny," Ryan suddenly realized and with phone in hand, he walked away again.

Kate leaned against her desk. "That just leaves you, Javi."

"I haven't decided yet. I like this city. I'm needed here. Maybe a transfer if Gates will let me." Espo wasn't sure just how that worked.

"Just send it to 1PP and bypass her," Kate suggested just as her phone rang. Now it was her turn to pull out her phone and answer it.

"Hi, Lanie." They didn't have a case but maybe she'd caught a body last night before going home.

"You got the job!" Kate turned to look at Espo who wasn't all that far away yet and was waiting to hear. "What did they say?" Kate listened. "All I did was tell them that you were really good and gave them a list of cases you'd handled." Kate had done her best to make them all different to show that she knew a lot.

"A month and a half." Kate broke the weeks Lanie told her into something simpler. "I'll get the address for the apartment from Olga and you can stay with us. Save up a little money. We're going to be living there for almost a year so that means a lot of money for you."

Kate listened. "Of course Olga will let you. We've already talked about it. We'll put socks on the doorknob or something," Kate teased her since she and Olga would be having sex a lot while they were there.

"I'll come get you on the way home and we can all talk. We can show you the apartment and where it is. This is going to be great! I'll see you tonight." Kate hung up.

"Lanie, too." Espo was a little conflicted about her leaving. He and Lanie had tried to make it work and maybe could try again. But her moving put an end to that.

"Yeah, it's great. You'll think of something, Javi. Just get out of this precinct while you can. Gates will end your career if you stay here too long. …Maybe I can get Ann Hastings to move, too. She's good." Kate hadn't really thought about her since that vigilante case. But that was going to have to wait until she got there and found out if anyone had openings.

"New York moves to Hawaii." Espo meant it as a kind of joke. It was just that it looked like it was happening.

"I haven't given up on you yet. They just don't have any more openings. I'm going to miss you, though." It was actually going to happen and Kate was starting to really feel it.

"I'll keep in touch with Ryan." Espo wasn't going to say no to moving to Hawaii. "Besides all those beaches filled with hot bods," Espo smiled. Kate shook her head. That was part of what had gotten Lanie to apply for the job.

Ryan was back. "Jenny wants to move tomorrow. We just aren't ready for that."

"Lanie got the job in Honolulu. She just told me," Kate said and grinned.

"That's great!" Ryan was happy. Maybe he would see her and Kate from time to time. "What about you, Javi?" Was his partner willing to come?

Kate answered for him. "We just need to find a job for him. He can't wait to hit the beach with all those bikinis."

"Figures," Ryan teased him

"HEY! I'm still single around here. Allow me to dream, thank you," Espo huffed then smiled.

"Hi, guys." Castle finally showed up just as Ryan's desk phone rang.

"We got a body," Ryan announced.

"Just in time." Rick smiled wide and ignored the look Kate gave him.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Meet Jack Sinclair." Espo put his picture up on the white board.

"NO WAY! Jack Sinclair. The Ghost Wranglers. That show is awesome." Rick couldn't believe it.

"Please tell me you don't watch that crap, Castle." Kate just thought a little less of him even after he was getting better about not being a jackass.

"Only every chance I get," Rick retorted.

"Well his throat was slit. Ear to ear. Jugular, common superior thyroid, common artery left and right. You name it and it was severed," Ryan told them as he read from his notes from Lanie.

"It gets better. Death was done up close and personal. Except there were no footprints. And then there was the blood splatter. You cut all those arteries and you have got to hit something. But there was nothing. No one was anywhere near him when he was killed," Espo added.

"A ghost killed him!" Rick loved this case. "The blood would go right through it like it didn't exist."

"Which it didn't because ghosts don't exist, Castle." Kate didn't know why she was worried. They were both gone in three days so why was she worried about Gates hearing all this?

"So who called it in if he was dead in an abandoned building?" Kate inquired.

"His producer." Ryan put her picture up on the board.

"You mean you have video of a ghost killing him?" Rick wouldn't miss this for anything. Next thing was all four of them sitting in front of a video playback.

"What happened!?" Rick didn't get to see a ghost kill him.

"That was it. All of the cameras just suddenly went dead," Ryan said since they'd already watched this at the scene in the Ghost Wrangler truck.

"That's not fair! …Or it was a very shy ghost." Rick wasn't willing to give up just yet.

"Where's Barry, his camera man. He does all of these with him," Rick asked.

"The producer says he quit suddenly. He and Jack had an argument and he just quit. We did find out that he had the ability to program the cameras to just suddenly quit," Ryan revealed.

"Find him. Get his credit cards, his girlfriend, mother, sister, or anyone else he knows. He just might be our killer," Kate said tersely.

"Why would Barry kill his boss? He was his paycheck." Rick didn't see how it could be Barry. "Unless he was possessed by a ghost." Rick liked the idea and smiled wide.

"I thought possession was a demon thing, not ghosts," Kate countered and rolled her eyes at the look Castle was giving her. "It was a real person, Castle, not a ghost, demon, or anything like that."

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

It was late when Kate finally made it home to find Olga waiting up for her. "I've got news. Ryan and Lanie got job offers and accepted." Kate was all smiles.

"WOO HOO! I say we celebrate. Just a little touch." Olga poured out just a bit for each of them.

"Kevin said Jenny wants to move tomorrow. Lanie wanted to make sure she could stay with us while she looked for place to stay," Kate said to her.

"And you said yes since I don't have a problem with it." Olga really didn't mind. It made Kate happy and that was what she was more concerned about.

"So did you catch a case?" Olga was addicted but might never admit it.

"A little before going home, yes. A dead ghost hunter. He had his throat slit wide open from ear to ear. Almost cut his head off. Naturally he was found in a house that's supposed to be haunted. The problem is that there are no footprints and the blood splatter surrounded him, showing that no one was near him at the time." Kate watched Olga open her mouth.

"There are no such things as ghosts. Though you can't tell Castle that. He's already convinced it was a ghost." Kate didn't want to hear it.

"I have an idea for you tomorrow. Go back and look to see if you can do this." Olga came up to her, took her over to the stairs, then got on the stairs.

"Now pretend I lower down a noose to go around your throat only instead of a rope I use wire and pull really hard really fast," Olga said. She'd actually done something similar, just not with a wire.

"The killer was above him somehow!" Kate looked up at Olga and was shocked and happy that they had a lead. "Thanks, babe!" Olga hadn't even been there and she was a help.

"Babe?" Olga looked askance and saw Kate smile.

"I wish I could say it was all good news," Kate said.

"What has Gates done now?" Olga was sure Gates was behind whatever it is. Olga was starting to wonder what she could do. Thankfully they didn't have to put up with her for much longer.

"Not Gates, not this time. 1PP wants me in for a meeting first thing in the morning." Kate couldn't begin to fathom what it was about.

"Well they can't fire you, unless they want to be vicious about it," Olga shrugged.

"Thanks. Good thing I love you," Kate glared at her, though she still had no idea what it was about.

"Yell if you need me and I'll come charging." Olga would defend her willingly and quickly. Olga would give them more than a piece of her mind.


	21. Chapter 21

**Moving On**

_Chapter 21_

"Detective Beckett, we're ready for you," someone told her and followed her inside. Inside there was a single chair with three men she didn't recognized in chairs on the other side of a table.

"Detective Beckett. This is Captain Pol, Captain Murphy, and I'm Captain Bliss. We have a few questions for you. Give us honest answers and we'll make this as painless as possible."

"Yes, sir. Ask me anything you want." She would tell them the truth of anything they asked her.

"We have copies of your two week resignation notice along with your explanation behind your leaving. We're gratified that you will be going to another job. Your skill needs to benefit someone even if it isn't us. I also read that you have a fiancée," Bliss said.

"Yes, sir. The plan is to get married some time after we arrive at our new home. We haven't really decided just when as yet," Kate confirmed.

"Congratulations are in order," Bliss said to her.

"We want you to expand on how Captain Gates treated you after assuming her position as Captain of the 12th precinct. It says here that she insulted you to your face." Captain Pol looked at her, waiting for an answer.

"Yes, sir. We had a new case that we had just started and hadn't had it for long when Captain Gates questioned why we had so little to go on already. I wrote up a complete report of the case."

Kate watched him hold up her report to show her. "Captain Gates questioned why we had so little and if she had made a mistake in placing any faith in my ability to do my job."

"There have been other incidences like this one?" Captain Murphy inquired.

"Yes, sir," Kate confirmed and proceeded to describe a few others.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"We're done here, Detective Beckett. Thank you for coming in," Captain Bliss said. "We wish you luck in your new position and we're sorry we're going to miss your wedding."

"Yes, sir. I'm happy to help." Kate stood up to leave.

"Detective Beckett, you are ordered not to discuss this meeting with anyone," Captain Bliss told her. He didn't want her contaminating the others.

"Understood, sir," Kate nodded then went out the door.

Once out the door she was shocked at who she saw and stopped dead in her tracks. "Castle! What are you doing here?" Why should he be here though she could guess.

"I got a call to be here at this time," Rick said. "Any idea what this is about?" Rick was really curious. He had never been here before.

"I was ordered not to discuss it. Just tell them the truth, Castle." Kate left him before he could ask her more questions that she couldn't answer.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate was ready to get started on the case when Ryan came up and told her and Espo that he had to leave. "I've been ordered to 1PP to attend a meeting." He was actually nervous since he'd only ever done this once before. They hadn't needed much but when 1PP called it was cause for worry.

"You'll do fine, Ryan. Just tell them what you know." Now Kate was certain she knew what it was about. However, she'd been ordered not to talk about it.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"I've got an idea for you and Ryan when he gets back. It might help explain why the blood splatter didn't hit anything," Kate said. "When you go back to the site I want you to check out the ceiling. See if there's a way to hang a noose and still be able to yank hard on it and cut his neck open," Kate suggested.

"A hanging!?" Espo considered it. "It couldn't be a rope. Too thick. A garrote, maybe. We'll check it out."

"Doesn't explain why the cameras all quit at just the right time. Remote control, perhaps. Electrical failure." Kate tried to think of other reasons but that was it. "What else kills electricity in an instant but doesn't affect the houses around it?"

Espo left her to answer his phone. In a moment he hung up. "I've been ordered to report to 1PP. Immediately." Espo was really wondering just what was going on. Ryan had left to go there and now he was going. "What did we do?" He couldn't think of anything he had done wrong.

"Just go answer their questions." Kate tells him.

"You know what's going on." Espo wasn't questioning. Kate obviously knew something.

"I can't tell you anything. Just tell them the truth, Javi. Just tell them what you know to be the truth." It was all Kate could tell him. Trouble like this could follow her if she disobeyed an order.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate looked up just as Castle plopped down in what had become his chair. "That was different." Rick really wanted to talk about it but they had told him not to talk or he really would be arrested and this time the charges wouldn't be dismissed.

Rick twisted to look into Gates's office as she sat there. Kate looked, too.

Kate hadn't meant to start anything, she'd simply written what she knew when she had turned in her termination notice. What the board did with all this information was up to them. She would be gone by then.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Ryan walked in and went over to Kate and Castle and opened his mouth. He really wanted to ask questions but he had his orders so he repressed it without saying a word.

He did have one thing to do. 1PP had their copy, now he had to give Gates hers. Ryan knocked and opened her door. "Sir." He placed his piece of paper on her desk.

"What's this?" Gates picked it up and began to read it.

"My two week resignation notice. 1PP already has their copy," Ryan told her and watched her read.

"I see. Following Detective Beckett?" As far as she was concerned he was making a mistake. They both were.

"No, sir. Beckett's going one place. I'm going another." Technically it was the truth. Ryan turned and closed the door behind him.

Ryan went to his desk to work on the case they still had. What he needed was Espo. Though he knew exactly where he was at the moment since he'd met him on his way out as Espo was walking in.

Ryan needed Espo to go back to the site and test what Kate had come up with, however, that didn't tell them who had killed him.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Ryan watched as Espo walked in and went past Kate and Castle as each looked at the other. Espo sat down at his desk. Something was going on and he knew who it revolved around. But that didn't tell him what was going to happen.

"I gave Gates my notice. Two weeks," Ryan said.

"Gonna miss you, bro." The gang was breaking up. He turned to look at Gates who was still in her office. He was pretty sure who to blame it all on, too.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Mercy. Mercedes Lagrande. She runs an unlicensed business doing paranormal consultations." Ryan had gotten this lead from talking to the last couple that had tried to stay in the place.

"There's a reason she's unlicensed. Check out this rap sheet. ID theft, fraud, check theft, and impersonating a religious official." Espo added his paperwork.

"Jack called for Mercy," Rick pointed out.

"So how is she involved in all of this?" Kate questioned.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Pictures aren't pretty." Espo put them up on the board. "Melanie Benton, sliced up in the Benton house on April 20, 1991. One guess where she was found."

"The living room where Jack was killed," Rick said and smacked the corner of Kate's desk.

"Give that man a cigar," Espo said.

"So in 1991 Jack was what, eleven years old? But he was still living in the area. Doing what?" Rick queried.

Ryan showed up with something. "Paper route."

"So Jack saw something that gave him nightmares and he wanted in that house to solve it." Rick suggested.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Two words: Laird's luck," Rick offered after going home for a moment and then right back.

"A hidden lair above many Scottish castles," Rick began and Kate raised a finger.

"Ryan and Espo are already out at the site looking for something above the ceiling. But thanks." Kate smiled at him as he scowled. He thought he had a lead and Kate was somehow already out in front of him.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Meet Matt Benton." Espo put up a picture onto the board. "Lanie has him."

"There really was a hidden room above the ceiling. We found a metal rod our killer could use to hang upside down with to kill our vic," Ryan added.

"We also found a magnetic device that was connected to the power of the house. Every time we used it the lights flickered. It explains things moving as if by magic," Espo added.

"Ghosts or demons huh, Castle?" Kate teased him.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Dental records say our body here is definitely Matt Benton," Lanie told Kate and Castle.

"So what killed him?" Kate asked her.

"Don't know that yet but I can tell you that he died about 20 years ago," Lanie said.

"That's the same time his wife was killed that he was blamed for," Rick mentioned.

"So someone kills his wife, killed Matt, and hides him in the attic and blames it on him. But something bothers me. If Matt died 20 years ago how did he send postcards to his brother 15 years ago?" Kate questioned.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"That brand new bulb we found? It had a bar code. It was sold to Fuller Estate Management," Espo indicated.

"The Fuller that owns the building?" Rick couldn't believe it. He'd been talked to first thing. "What if he was having an affair with Matt's wife. Matt finds out and Fuller kills both of them."

"He's owned that building for years. If anyone would know about that room above the ceiling it would be Fuller. Now how do we prove he's our killer?" Kate wondered.

"I have an idea about that, but it means you two are going to have to do some acting and a lot of pre-planning." Rick smiled at the four of them. He had an idea and since Kate and he were confined to Kate's desk it meant Espo and Ryan were going to have to do all the work.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Need a hand with that body, Fuller?" Espo and Ryan had their weapons trained on him and turned on the lights.

"Detective Smith!?" Ryan wasn't expecting to see him.

"You two are very smart. But you're forgetting about one thing. This place is haunted." Smith raised a remote and the lights went out.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"The ghost only kills when there isn't an audience and tonight we have an audience." Ryan pointed to the camera just hidden enough to not be easily noticed.

"And we just recorded your full confession," Espo smiled as four uniforms burst in to arrest him.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"So Fuller had absolutely no idea about that room." Rick couldn't believe it. He was so sure it was Fuller. It did work beautifully for a new book.

"Face it, Castle. There are no ghosts or demons," Kate taunted him.

"Only none in that house." Rick wasn't admitting it totally.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"So you ready for tomorrow, Dad?" Alexis asked him after he came home.

"My last day with Beckett." Rick wasn't ready for that. He was learning a lot but was it going to be enough? "However, something's happening."

"Oh, do tell." Alexis was listening.

"1PP called each of us in and asked us questions. They all revolved around Captain Gates. And none of them were about what she'd done right," Rick told her.

"Has she done anything right?" Alexis inquired based on what her dad had told her about Gates each day.

"They did give her the job." She must be good at something; he just didn't know what it was.

"So what do you think is going to happen?" Alexis questioned.

"I wish I knew. But the meeting does give me an idea to use in my book. It isn't all about the detectives. It's about the people behind them that hired them."

"Maybe they'll figure out they hired the wrong person. Your friend the mayor might get you back in if they send her somewhere else," Alexis suggested.

"Except Kate and Ryan will be gone." Rick didn't think it would be the same.

"Ryan!? What's he doing?" This was new.

"He turned in his resignation today, too. It just leaves Esposito," Rick said.

"Maybe you'll get lucky." Alexis gave her dad a hug and went upstairs to her room.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"So was it a ghost or a demon?" Olga was all smiles when Kate got home.

"Neither. Though it wasn't who we thought it was. It was a retired police officer from twenty years ago." Kate dropped her coat on a chair.

"Another dirty cop?" Olga opened her eyes wide. What was wrong with this city?

"He claims that he killed her husband because he was beating her and she deserved better. However, he's claiming it was a demon that killed her." Kate rolled her eyes. "He's just starting his insanity defense." It wasn't a demon or a ghost.

"So heard anything from either of the real estate agents?" Kate went in search of a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

"I did actually. We got an offer for this place."

"And?" Kate wanted to hear this.

"1.4 million dollars," Olga said with a frown.

"Two million below asking!? What are they trying to do, steal it?" Kate hated the offer. She knew how it worked and getting 1.6 million was likely not going to happen, but that was far too low.

"I rejected it, of course." Olga shrugged.

"Good, so what did you counter with?" That was usually how it worked.

"I didn't. I simply rejected it. If they're serious they'll come back with something far closer to what's being asked," Olga said.

"Good, stick to your guns. Nothing on my place yet?" Kate asked and Olga shook her head. "This might take longer than I thought." It meant Olga would be here longer than they wanted.

"Perhaps. Just one more day to go," Olga pointed out.

"Ryan turned in his two week termination notice today," Kate mentioned. "And something else happened today. Myself, Castle, Ryan, and Espo all got called into 1PP for a meeting. One at a time."

"OH! What was that about?" Olga asked.

"I was ordered not to talk about it. However all of their questions revolved around Gates." It was about all Kate could tell her.

"Interesting. Very interesting. Think that means they're going to replace her?" Olga queried.

"Maybe and maybe not. In any event I won't be here to find out. Espo and Ryan have my number if they want to share. Looks like we're almost out of here." One more day at work then one week until she flew to Honolulu, possibly alone if they didn't sell fast enough.

"You'll do fine. The apartment is ours, you just have to show up, get the keys, and fill out the paperwork. Buying or renting?" Olga meant the car to get around with until her car showed up.

"Renting for now. I need to go over to the Marina and see what kind of parking they have. They may only have space for one car. Which reminds me, I need the address for it." Kate waited for Olga to come back.

"We're on the waiting list for two different places. Here they are." Olga gave her the list.

**Ala Wai Harbor**,1651 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu

**Ko Olina Marina**, 92-100 Waipahe Place, Kapolei

"So which do we want most?" Kate hadn't looked them up, she had left it to Olga.

"Ala Wai Harbor has fuel dock, harbor office, 22 dry storage spaces, vessel wash down, restrooms, showers, access to the Hawaii Yacht Club and Waikiki Yacht Club.

"The Ko Olina has access to the Ko Olina resort and all it has. It has its own parking but I don't know how much. It's a little farther away from your work so we want the first one if we can get it. Your work is on one side of Pearl Harbor and Ko Olina is on the other side." Olga explains.

"We definitely want Ala Wai," Kate agreed. "I'll start with that one and tell you what I find."

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate went into work her last day with an empty folded down box for what stuff she had at her desk. All she had to do was call and Olga would come get her and take her home.

Looking around, it felt a little sad. This had been home and work for years and she was leaving it. Then she saw Gates in her office and knew this was the right thing to do. Gates hated her. Even the guys had asked what she had done wrong now when Gates yelled.

Her reputation for hating cops was solid even if she was no longer in Internal Affairs.

Kate sighed. She still had paperwork to finish from yesterday's case to fill out and hand in so she got started.

Kate was still working on it when first Ryan then Espo came in and got to work on their own paperwork.

Then suddenly Castle was in his chair next to her. "So you're actually going to help with the paperwork on your last day." Kate was teasing since she knew better.

"Um, no. But I did bring you something. My way of saying thank you." Rick handed her a wrapped gift that looked suspiciously like a book. "Open it."

Kate took the top off and found the last book Castle had written. She already had this book which was in a box in the pod at the moment.

"I signed it inside just for you. Makes it a one of a kind." Normally he just signed his name. He didn't this time.

"Thanks, Castle, that's actually…sweet. You're not actually planning on stealing something this time?" Kate questioned him since the last time he'd done this he'd stolen pictures mostly from her case.

"Not this time. But you remembered. I'm touched." Rick placed a hand over his heart. "I won't ask you if you want to debrief each other in private this time," he teased.

"Good, I'm not in the mood to keep arresting you." Kate watched him get up with a bag in hand and go over to Espo first and hand him a book and the same for Ryan. Okay, maybe he wasn't the jackass he used to be. Still he was behind her. She loved someone deeply, was engaged, and getting married one of these days.

Kate found him sitting in his chair watching her do paperwork was really creepy. "Didn't you load a new game on your phone or something?"

"Sadly no." He hadn't done that much planning for today.

He went out later and bought them all lunch on his last day. He made sure he didn't buy too much so that Gates didn't get any.

Rick had even smiled at Gates when she came out of her office to go to a different department. What he got back was nothing. She clearly still hated him.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Castle was already gone and had said goodbye to literally everyone save for Gates before he had left. Now it was her turn. She started with everyone on the floor save for Ryan, Espo, and Gates.

"Ryan, call me when you get a day off and we can either boat over or fly over for a quick visit." Kate hugged him.

"We'll think of something. I'm certain Jenny will plan something," Ryan smiled.

"I expect a wedding invitation. Well, two actually." Kate really wanted to attend.

"We'll be there for yours as well," Ryan replied.

"Javier Esposito." He was next and hugged him even tighter. "I'll keep you in mind. I haven't given up on finding you a job yet."

"Send me an invitation. That will be enough." He was holding out hope that Gates would be replaced. He would have to start from scratch but he'd done it before and could do it again.

"Count on it and bring a guest." Kate grinned at him.

"We'll see." Espo was noncommittal to bringing anyone special to her wedding.

"You two have my number. Call me for anything at all." Kate walked to her desk and picked up her box that had that card that had gotten her here inside it.

Kate had made it to the elevator. "Detective Beckett!" Gates's voice called out.

"I'm going! I'm going." Kate stepped into the elevator, stabbed the ground floor button, and with a sigh of relief, watched it close. Kate was betting Gates wanted to get in one last jab at her.

Olga was double-parked with the trunk open. Kate put her box in and closed it, then slid into the passenger seat. "Get me out of here before Gates catches up with me so she can yell at me one last time."


	22. Chapter 22

**Moving On**

_Chapter 22_

_It is now one week later_

Kate had all the clothes she could carry along with her personal bag that contained a new laptop for her to use.

They hadn't as yet sold either the house or her apartment. They had one offer for her place that Kate herself had rejected and had countered. The first people that had offered 2 million less than listed for the house hadn't come back, however, they did have a second offer for 1.55 million dollars that Olga had countered. They had another open house starting tomorrow.

"Enjoy the flight." This time Olga had parked and helped Kate get the luggage into the building. It was up to her to get those into the plane. "I'll be there as fast as I can." Olga kissed her soundly as Kate kissed her back.

They had spent last night making love since it was going to possibly be a while until they were together again. Kate had plans to sleep on the plane to compensate for the lack of sleep.

Olga watched until she couldn't see the plane any longer then drove home.

Kate was used to this plane since she had been in it once already. Only this time they would be traveling a lot farther. Too far to fly there directly, there were going to be a couple of stops along the way. One was in Fort Worth and the last was going to be in Los Angeles before landing in Honolulu. Kate would have a week to get settled before reporting for her first day at her new job.

It was up to her to feed herself on the flight. It was going to be cold but she had more than enough to eat the entire way. Plus it had a toilet so she never actually had to leave the plane.

"I'm going to get spoiled if I keep this up," Kate said to herself as she felt the plane take off on its first leg.

Kate couldn't talk to anyone until the plane landed. "I'm in Fort Worth," she told Olga who in turn had promised to tell her dad.

"Nothing's changed here. I've emptied the kitchen so now I'm going to be eating take out," Olga grimaced.

"Oh, eating like me now, are you?" Kate teased her.

"I hate you," Olga replied and listened to Kate laugh at her. "They're going to come get my baby tomorrow for her trip. Keep me informed."

"I'll call from Los Angeles. Stay safe. Love you." Kate ended the call and looked around. Yeah, she could get used to this.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Olga answered the phone and listened. Kate had given her the minimum amount she would accept. But Kate couldn't sign anything until she made it to the apartment and could find a way to sign and send it back.

"We accept," Olga said to the real estate agent for Kate's apartment. "Kate might not be able to sign and send it to you until tomorrow at the earliest. She's in the air at the moment." Olga listened for a moment. "We'll make it work. Thank you." Olga ended the call. One down, one to go.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate's pilot left and was replaced with another one. He was going to exceed his flight hours if he'd continued so she was getting a new one. Because of that she was allowed to get out since they were going to be there for over an hour and she could get some hot food for a change.

"Hi, babe. I'm in Los Angeles. They changed pilots so I'm getting some hot food," Kate said.

"Your place is sold. The people came back with a new offer that met your minimum so I accepted for you. She's going to send me everything that I will in turn send to you. You just have to find a way to print it, sign it, and send it back to me. She's looking into Doc-u-sign so it might be easier on you but we'll see," Olga said to her.

"That's great! Anything on the house?" They had one left and it was the big one. They needed the money from the sale of the house in order to buy the boat.

"Nothing yet. I did get a message from the boat manufacturer. We have one week to finalize our floor plan, then three months to finalize the interior finishes so he can order everything and maintain our time frame."

"I'm happy if you are." Then Kate rattled off what she remembered. "Master bedroom up front. Living room behind that. Dining room is outside under cover. Pool with seating and BBQ behind the pilot house. The front deck with seating in front of the master bedroom. Downstairs is the lone spare bedroom, theater room, craft room, kitchen, and exercise room. Oh, and the garage for the lone zodiac." They could have moved the master bedroom downstairs where the kitchen was going and put the kitchen upstairs with a larger living room but didn't.

"Works for me, I'll tell them. Enjoy your food and your flight. Love you." Olga ended the call.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate had bags in hand and was taking a shuttle to the car rental desks in the Honolulu airport. This was either the good part or bad part about flying charter. The car rental desks were in the main terminal and she wasn't so she had to take a shuttle.

"Hi, babe, I'm in Honolulu and headed for car rental. I'm going to have serious jet lag. It's barely lunch here." Kate listened to Olga laugh. "It's going to be your turn next time," Kate reminded her.

"Check your email when you can. Your real estate lady has sent everything via Doc-u-sign. So put your initials where indicated, sign, and your place will be someone else's. The money will show up in your account soon after that," Olga let her know.

"Excellent! Did you know it is 82° here and the sun's out?" Kate wasn't even out of the airport area yet and she liked it.

"Have fun, I'll be there as soon as I can." Olga made the smacking sound of a kiss then ended the call.

"Have fun, she says. I have a week until I start work. You're damn right I'm going to have fun." She was in fucking Honolulu and she had bikinis in her bag. She even had sunscreen and flip flops.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate went to the Alamo desk since that was the rental company she'd selected. "Kate Beckett, I have a reservation," she said to the man behind the little counter. She watched his fingers fly across the keyboard.

"I have it. One compact convertible for a minimum of three weeks," he said and waited for her to confirm it.

"A what?" That wasn't what she had selected for her rental. "Olga." She was going to kill her.

"A Mazda Miata isn't what you wanted? I can look for other convertibles. They're the most popular car people want unless they have any 4x4 ideas that are not recommended by any car rental agency."

"Mazda Miata." Kate tried to picture one and looked down at her luggage. He looked as well.

"Your larger bags will fit in the trunk while your carry-on can go in the passenger seat," he offered, hoping that would help.

"Sure, Mazda Miata it is." What the hell. It was Hawaii after all.

"Excellent. I'll need a credit card, a photo ID, and your insurance card. Actually, I don't need your insurance card. I see you have preselected the full daily coverage for your rental. If anything happens at all just drop it off and you are responsible for no damages. You are required to return the car with the same amount of fuel that you find in it. Or you can pay us to fill it for you."

"I'll fill it with gas, thank you," Kate said.

After signing her life away she was told her rental form was the car's registration. "Your car is in section C space number 6. A white Mazda Miata. It has a five speed manual transmission," he warned her.

"That's fine." She knew how to drive a manual.

"Enjoy your stay and if you need anything call the 800 number on the back of your rental agreement," he told her. "OH! Sorry, almost forgot your GPS module that you asked and paid for. I strongly suggest that you do not leave it in the car even with the top up."

"Thanks." Kate found room in her carry-on bag for it, headed to the lot, and searched for her car. It took her some time. Then she had to set up the GPS, pull out her address, and type it in. She even put the top down since it wasn't raining and the sun was out.

1888 Kalakaua Ave, Honolulu, Hawaii

Kate followed the directions the feminine voice told her, all while watching everything since this was her first time here. Literally everything looked like it was green save for the buildings and she soon saw the ocean. "Hawaii." Kate felt a smile form.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate grabbed her carry-on and the GPS then went inside to check in, fill out all the forms, and get the keys. She was told where to park after she put her parking pass on her car. She only got the one pass and was told that cars with no pass were towed at the owner's expense.

"25th floor. The elevators are right over there." She gestured to her left; Kate looked and saw them.

She went back out to the car, moved it, and left the top down. She carried her bags to the elevator, went up to the 25th floor and apartment number 225.

Opening it, she found just what the pictures of it had shown her. She debated calling Olga until she remembered the time difference. She would wait until morning to call her.

Kate chose the larger of the two bedrooms, the one with the attached bathroom, and started unpacking. It came with a few clothes hangers but not many. That was fine, she'd brought her own.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate was done and standing in the living room, looked out at the view. Then she opened the door and went out onto the lanai as they called it here. Mostly she saw buildings and mountains in the distance. The ocean was on the other side but she didn't mind. She was on the 25th floor so the view was spectacular. Most of the buildings around her weren't this tall.

Once they moved to their boat they weren't going to have this view so she sat down and just looked. "Dinner!" She hadn't eaten all that much in hours. Just the one little hot meal she had eaten and that sandwich. Besides, she needed to figure out how to get around a little.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Beckett." Kate answered her phone without looking at who it was just as she got home with her takeout. It was simple Chinese teriyaki chicken with white rice but it was enough.

"So you did make it." Olga sounded happy to hear her voice.

"You're still up! I was going to wait until morning here to call you."

"Of course I'm still up. My fiancée is hours away from me and my bed is empty. Forgive me if I worry," Olga told her.

"You're forgiven. I just got back after getting some takeout. Haven't had much time to look at the kitchen or go shopping yet. AND YOU CHANGED MY CAR!" Kate had been happy to have the cheapest car they had.

"It's Hawaii. You need a convertible," Olga insisted. "Besides, when baby gets there we're going to still have a convertible."

"Good point and thank you. It's a nice little car. Emphasis on little. Like your car there are only two seats. Lanie isn't going to have room," Kate mentioned.

"We'll have two cars until we decide we don't need two," Olga countered.

"Sounds expensive but okay for now." They could fight this battle later.

`"I do have news. I settled on a price of $1.575 million," Olga said.

"You sold the house! That's great! When are you leaving?" Kate wanted her here.

"Eight days." Olga closed her ears as best she could.

"EIGHT DAYS!" Kate yelled. "Why so long?" Kate couldn't think of a reason for the delay. She'd sign the paperwork, pack up, and fly out here. What was so hard about that?

"Because, love, I need your plane to come back and go through a maintenance check before flying back with me. I don't fancy crashing. And I need to fly charter to get all my weapons and ammunition out there. Just pray they don't find anything that needs repair or replacement or it will be even longer."

"Fine, you win. I will have started my job before you get here." Kate started her new job in a week.

"And you can tell me all about it after I get there. I'll take a shuttle service to get to the apartment. We don't need for your new boss to be annoyed that you're leaving work early," Olga said.

"Good point. Just get here." Kate was sure the empty bed was going to be a pain.

"Eat your dinner before it gets cold. We can talk again tomorrow. Love you," Olga told her.

"Love you, too." Kate hung up and looked at her dinner, trying to decide if she really was hungry. She shrugged then opened the container and added the soy sauce she was given. She almost started eating but then picked it all up and went out on the lanai to enjoy it with a view.

"Hawaii." Kate smiled while she ate.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate was waiting at the line. The arrival board said her plane had landed so now she just needed to wait. And then they could go find the baggage claim and grab her bags. Kate knew she was bouncing on her toes but she was excited. Then she spotted her and started waving madly until she had been seen.

"Lanie!" Kate hugged her tightly.

"Hi, girlfriend." Lanie was happy to see her, too. "So this is Hawaii." She hadn't even made it out of the airport.

"You haven't seen anything yet. Let's go! We need to find baggage claim. How was your flight?" Kate asked, betting it was worse than hers was, thanks to Olga.

"Long and cramped. At least my seatmates were nice enough and mostly silent. It's barely lunch here." Lanie was sure jet lag was in her future.

"Tell me about it. I was eating dinner because it was time for dinner not because I was hungry my first day here," Kate admitted.

"You ate something? It must be the Hawaiian air," Lanie teased her.

"Ha ha." Kate knew her history and Lanie was only rubbing it in.

"I brought all the clothes I could and everything else is in a pod back in New York just like you suggested," Lanie said.

"Just like all my stuff and Olga's. I start work tomorrow so you're on your own tomorrow with no car." Then Kate brightened. "Or you can drive me to work and drop me off." Kate's shoulders slumped. "…But you can't; your name isn't on the rental form. Sorry."

"I'll think of something. I have to learn. When does your fiancée arrive?" Lanie asked her.

"Two days. She sold the house and had to wait but she'll be here. When do you start work?" Kate inquired.

"One week from today. I have an address here somewhere and a name." Lanie patted her carry-on bag. "Can you believe it, we're in Hawaii. Half naked men all over the place and nothing but beaches." Lanie couldn't wait. "Except you're getting married so you don't care about that any more," Lanie apologized.

"I can still look, I just can't touch," Kate laughed. Plus she could point them all out to Lanie.

"Well, you missed it, girl. I found out from Espo and Ryan that Gates tried to track you down. Apparently she wanted to wish you well but you didn't stop," Lanie grinned, knowing full well that Kate would never have stopped for that woman.

"Seriously! I was sure she wanted to insult me one last time. It was all she ever did when I was there." Kate wasn't sure how to take that news. It was nice of Gates but really?

"I also heard about the meeting each of you had at 1PP. No one will tell me anything beyond that," Lanie prodded, wanting to know more. "Castle's still gone too. No one has heard from him."

Kate shook her head. "I'm still not sure I'm allowed to talk about it. It was all about Gates, I can tell you that much."

Lanie shrugged. "That's what Espo and Ryan said. She was still captain as of yesterday." Then they located the right carousel and waited for it to spit out luggage or to even start spinning.

"Where is Ryan?" Kate asked her.

"His last day is coming up soon. They're doing what we did. Everything but clothes went into a pod then into storage until they find a place to stay. Pretty soon and we'll all be out here," Lanie said with a grin.

"Everyone except for Espo," Kate grumbled. "And my dad."

"I think Espo's waiting to see if Gates is replaced by someone else. I don't think he wants to come." Lanie didn't know that for a fact but it was the feeling she got. "Where is your dad?"

"Still waiting for a reply from the last company he talked with. The first one hired someone local even though he isn't asking for relocation help. So he's still at home and not packing yet." Not everything was working out like she had hoped.

"He'll find something. Give it a chance." Lanie watched as the carousel finally started to spin.

"I still haven't given up on Olga's parents. Those two are really stubborn." Kate didn't get it.

"Just like someone I know," Lanie teased which earned her a glare from Kate. At that moment Lanie saw her first suitcase.

"A Mazda Miata. A convertible. This should be fun." Lanie wasn't sure all of her suitcases were going to fit. They did but one was in her lap.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"WOW, tall building." Lanie saw where Kate was going, following what the GPS lady told her to do.

"25th floor. It has a really nice view of the city. The beach is on the other side, unfortunately." She did wonder if the ocean view was better but what they had was really nice and quiet.

Kate took a bag to help Lanie and up the elevator they went. Kate walked into her bedroom while Lanie, eager to see the view, stepped over to the windows to take a look. "Definitely not New York City." New York City looked nothing like this.

"You can say that again." Kate had heard her and called from the bedroom.

"Fully furnished?" Lanie joined her to unpack.

"Everything we need. Kitchen had everything except food and the bathroom has everything from towels to cleaning supplies," Kate confirmed. "Here's your key." Kate handed over a front door key and a mail box key. Since Olga was going to be home most of the time she'd be able to get the mail.

"Unpack later. We have some place to go." Kate took Lanie by the hand and pulled her toward the front door.

"Where are we going?" Lanie asked her, going along with her.

"Pearl Harbor Memorial. I've been to Diamond Head but I've been waiting for you to show up to go there." A smiling Lanie was right behind Kate.

"Where is Waikiki Beach from here?" Lanie questioned her.

"Almost right across the street." Kate smiled wide at her since it was a short walk down the street. "There's a canal right outside. You can see it from the lanai."

"Have you found your office yet?" Lanie queried.

"Yep, drove it twice already. Takes me about 10 minutes. Olga picked the perfect spot. We can do yours when I get off work tomorrow," Kate said. She had even driven over to the future marina and had taken a look.

It was huge and had two really long parking lots. A parking pass was needed to park there and it was first come first served to get a space. It was going to be really close. The boat was going to be ready in about a year and the waiting list at this marina was about a year for what they wanted. Even longer for smaller boats. The maximum length allowed was 85 feet and they were just under 79 feet in total.

She had also driven from there to work once. It took her ten minutes as well.

Funny thing was she could walk from the apartment to the marina in two minutes. They were facing the wrong way or she could see it from the apartment. Both were in perfect locations to her work. Now they just needed to work out where Lanie worked.


	23. Chapter 23

**Moving On**

_Chapter 23_

Kate got ready for her first day of work and Lanie inspected her before she left. Lanie had at least talked her into a piece of toast before leaving or she wouldn't have eaten anything.

"You're sure you'll be all right." Kate wasn't sure about leaving her alone on her first day here. Okay, second day but it was the first full day of her being here.

"It'll give me a chance to walk around a little and see the area. Maybe I'll get lucky." Lanie had meant get lucky in finding something, however Kate had heard was _find someone and bring him home for sex_.

"We can find your work when I get home. Remember Olga gets in tomorrow." Kate was literally counting the hours until she was here.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Lanie finally got brave, went outside, and looked around. That was when she spotted a trolley that was open air and very colorful. The stand it stopped at had said **FREE** so she waited for the next one.

She found out that it took her to a store called Hilo Hattie where they sold mostly clothing but a whole lot of other stuff as well. She spent an hour walking around just looking until she couldn't take it any longer and went back and gathered up four things. One was a very colorful lei filled with fake flowers. The second was a box of chocolate covered macadamia nuts. The third was a deep red flower to go in her hair just above her ear to either tell a man that she was married or not looking, or single and looking depending on which side she placed it.

The last one was a native gown that had caught her attention. Something called a muumuu. It also earned her a free Hawaiian coffee cup.

Back out to wait for her trolley to get home, she found that the same trolley would take her to the Aloha Tower and to a shopping complex right next door so she got off there.

With bag in hand she walked up the steps to the top of the tower and stayed there to look around. She also read the plaque that was up there that talked about the tower and just how old it was. From there she went shopping again. Since she'd already spent her money she just window-shopped.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate had a load of paperwork to fill out before she could even make it to her assigned desk. It was almost lunch by the time she was shown her desk then introduced to everyone else. She had new names to try and memorize.

She also found out that they didn't use white boards. That was something she was going to fix right after she found one and had it delivered along with the necessary colored markers. That and the magnetic clips to hold pictures in place.

As usual she skipped lunch and since she was new she was assigned to help an ongoing case. Just getting up to speed took half of what was left of her day.

She was also learning that there was a language barrier of sorts. Everything around here was named using the Hawaiian alphabet that was not the same as the English alphabet. It used far less letters and depending on where the letter was told you how to pronounce it. She'd been told that she would get the hang of it…eventually. She didn't really have a choice. Even some of the names of the people around her were Hawaiian. Though a few were either Japanese or Chinese.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate came home to find Lanie in the kitchen making dinner. "You didn't have to cook," Kate protested though she was grateful that she was.

"Did you eat lunch?" Lanie eyed Kate and listened to her silence. "That's why I'm cooking. …So how was your first day?" Lanie wanted to hear everything.

"Mostly paperwork. I even had to fill out a real job application even despite the fact that I've already been hired. Then they added me to an ongoing case," Kate told her as she went her bedroom to change clothes.

Kate was back so she stood in the kitchen and watched Lanie cook. "Would you believe that they were getting by with only one homicide detective? Though I was told they don't get too many homicides usually, but if things kept up they would break last year's record." Kate had been a little shocked.

"So there's just the two of you?" That didn't seem right.

"Just the two of us. I was told after about a month they'd be moving me to the midnight shift. Once I got the hang of how things worked and where most everything was." Kate wasn't looking forward to that.

"The new person gets the shitty job," Lanie reminded her since that wasn't anything new.

"Yeah, lucky me. They also don't use white boards. That's something I'm going to fix as soon as possible. They're simply going to have to learn a new system. Especially if they're going to eventually leave me alone."

"So what did you do with your first full day here?" Kate had told her just about everything worth hearing about.

"I went shopping. I found this free trolley and it took me to this huge store where they actually make most of what they sell. Bought a few things then got back on the trolley. It took me someplace else and I looked around. …Plates, glasses, silverware, please?" Lanie asked her which got Kate busy.

"What's with the flower in your hair?" Kate questioned after they sat down to eat.

"If you wear a flower behind your left ear, it means you're married, taken, have a significant other, or maybe you just don't want anyone bothering you! If you wear a flower behind your right ear, it means you're single, available, and approachable," Lanie explained. It was what the sales lady at Hilo Hattie had told her about how to wear her flower.

"Well that makes it simple." Kate liked the idea. Now she just needed to find one or more of her own and get some for Olga as well.

"This place is NOT New York City." Lanie had learned that very quickly. No trash on the streets, no sirens blaring in her ears, no skyscrapers trying to reach the clouds, and everywhere she went she saw a beach. "People wear swimsuits everywhere. Even bikinis."

"Noticed that, did you? Olga had teased me about I would be wearing a bikini all day when not working. She just might be right." Kate hadn't decided and hadn't worn one since she had been here, but that might change. Especially after they moved to the boat.

"So where are you putting this yacht of yours when it gets here?" Lanie was curious and teased her at the same time.

"It's a boat, not a yacht. It's only 79 feet long. Which is a good thing since where we want to put it is a 2 minute walk from here and they have a limit of 85 feet for boats. They also have lots of parking for the car," Kate explained.

"You can show me then we can drive to my work." Lanie wanted to see both.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"You weren't kidding when you said you can walk here from the apartment. So where does this boat of yours go?" Lanie saw mostly smaller boats and yes, there was a lot of parking but most of the boats were tied up to docks you could only walk on.

"Out there somewhere. Currently they don't have an empty space and it usually takes a year for one to open up for the length we want. So this is going to be close. The boat will be done in about a year then moved here; a space might be open in a year." They were going to have to come up with a plan for if they didn't have a space. They needed to tell them where to take the boat.

"Definitely different from New York," Lanie stated it again and Kate nodded her agreement. Their lives here were going to be very different.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate had put the address Lanie had for her work into the GPS and with the top down, they started driving.

They went across the canal next to their apartment building, then west, and always had water to their left. There were also a lot of stop lights along the way.

"There, I went there with that trolley. Aloha Tower." Lanie recognized it when she saw it to their left.

"We can see if we can stop on the way back." Kate was willing to look.

"China Town." Kate smiled wide as they drove right through it with water still on their left. It meant she might be spending some of her time in this area. Get some authentic Chinese food.

"Here we are." Kate pulled into the parking lot and looked at her dad's watch. "Twenty minutes. That's not bad. Now we just need to figure out how to get you here and home again."

"Maybe a bus," Lanie suggested since even on this ride she had seen a few that looked like metro transit buses and not large tour buses though she had seen a lot of those already.

It was white with two floors, palm trees, and a parking lot in the back which was were they were.

"Want to go in? We can see what it looks like. I have a feeling I need to get used to coming here in the future," Kate said and they both got out.

Kate's building was much bigger. It was more beige and was three stories tall.

"You're Lanie Parrish. The new medical examiner. We weren't expecting you for another week." They had caught them by surprise.

"We're trying to get used to where she works and where she lives so we stopped," Kate answered for her.

"If you want to wait a minute I can get our present Medical Examiner. Show you around." She left them and made a call. "He'll be right up. And you are?" She meant Kate since she was looking at her.

"Kate Beckett. The new homicide detective." Kate showed her her new badge.

"I guess we'll be seeing you here on occasion as well," she noted. "I'm Maggie. I'm the receptionist."

"I'm Dr. Birch." He looked between the two. He spotted Kate's ring so guesses it wasn't her that was replacing him.

Dr. Birch wasn't what either of them were expecting. Both were expecting an old man who was retiring. This man wasn't old, not even close.

"I'm Dr. Parrish." Lanie held out her hand and shook his. "We were out trying to get used to the area and to see how far I really had to go to get here," Lanie explained.

"I'm Kate Beckett, homicide detective." Kate shook his hand.

"You can both come with me and I can show you both around. Maggie, please get her paperwork together. She can either fill it out ahead of time or take it with her, fill it out, and bring it back," Dr. Birch called out.

"Save a little time on your first day," he said.

Lanie and Kate soon noticed that the place was familiar and yet different. Where Lanie would be working basically looked the same. Save that instead of two tables this place only had the one. They had six refrigerators for bodies in a separate room. Then eventually he took them to his office that would soon be Lanie's.

"May I ask why you're leaving?" Lanie inquired. He was young and looked to be in good shape. He was even possible dating material for her.

"My parents don't live here. They live in Des Moines, Iowa. Mom had a stroke and it's too much for Dad so I took a job in Des Moines to help my dad care for her. My older sister and her family aren't really set up to help," Birch said, his face reflecting his sadness.

"I'm so sorry!" Lanie felt for him. His hurt was her gain since she got a job. But this wasn't how she wanted to get a job anywhere.

"I'm willing to do it. Mom and Dad did a lot for me. Put me through medical school and even helped me get this job. It was time to pay it back and go home," Birch told them.

"You're a good son." Kate was impressed with him.

"These are the basics. There's more, naturally, but you can see the rest on your first day. I'll be here for a week to help you with anything before I leave." He wasn't just throwing her into the pond to see if she would sink or swim.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"That wasn't so bad." Kate liked the place. Lanie had taken the paperwork from Maggie after she explained each one so she could fill it out at home at her leisure.

"I feel bad for him. That's no way to get a new job." Lanie said it instead of just thinking it.

"Yeah." Kate could agree with that. "Just think it'll be just like old times." Kate was really glad she was here.

"You mean no Perlmutter," Lanie teased her and Kate laughed.

"There is that." Perlmutter had managed to rub just about everyone the wrong way without actually getting everyone angry at him.

"Looks like no place to park. Everyone must be shopping at this hour or out to eat." Kate was driving slowly on the way home and didn't see a thing.

"You can see it later. You live here now," Lanie reminded her. Kate laughed again. She did indeed live here now.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Olga lands about the same time you did, more or less. She said she was going to use a shuttle service to get here since she's bringing a lot more than either of us," Kate told her in the morning on her way to work.

"Your little car is nice but doesn't have much space. I was even thinking of getting one for me," Lanie said since she did like the little convertible. "I really need to thank you for letting me stay here rent free." It meant at what she'd be earning she was going to be able to save up a lot of money.

"You're welcome. You're still my best friend. Say hello to Olga for me." Kate left and drove to work.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Olga was loaded down and was thinking she was ready to drop it all when the elevator door finally opened. She had gotten her key downstairs since having Kate mail her one might have arrived too late.

Olga dropped everything on the floor just outside of her door and was reaching out with the key when suddenly the door opened and she saw Lanie standing there. "I thought I heard something." Lanie had heard a loud noise and came to investigate. "Give me one." Lanie held out her hands and took what Olga gave her.

"This way." Lanie took her to hers and Kate's room. "Kate's at work now."

"I know, that's why I used a shuttle service. Have you had a chance to look around?" Olga was hoping she was fitting in well.

"Yes. Kate took me to my new office. It took us 20 minutes and I'm thinking I can use a bus but need to confirm. Oh and there's this free trolley we can use to go a couple of places if you want to try." Lanie would go shopping with her willingly.

"I love the word free. Let me take a shower and change then you can show me around." Olga smiled at Lanie then opened a suitcase.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Your marina is over here." Lanie took her there first. "Kate has confirmed your place on the waiting list. There's lots of parking. You two have a big boat." Lanie was still impressed.

"It's not too big for here only by accident. I had considered a 90 footer but didn't want one that big in the long run. Looks like that was a good idea." Finding a place for a boat that big might have been a big challenge.

Olga actually liked the trolley and the ride. She also liked the store and bought three flowers for herself and three for Kate after Lanie told her about them like the one she was wearing today. She also bought a pair of leis to take home with her. She hadn't spent enough to earn her a free coffee cup.

Next came the Aloha Tower then some more window shopping. Olga liked that she could reach a shopping area easily enough but didn't buy anything this trip.

"Thanks." Olga was happy to go. Now she had to wait for Kate to come home.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Ryan and Jenny had their little car from the airport. They had rented it for a week while they worked out just what to do, what they needed, and how much money they had to spend. They hadn't needed a car in New York City but they were going to need one here. However they also needed a place to stay. For now they had a hotel room that was tiny as usual.

"Car or apartment first?" Kevin asked his fiancée which was another cost that was coming up. Getting married could be inexpensive or it could be horribly expensive and anywhere in-between.

"Apartment. I want out of this hotel room," Jenny said.

That had them pulling out the printouts of what they'd found before coming here that they thought they could afford. The question was, did they have an apartment available at this time and which place had just that?

"Keonekai Villages is 30 minutes to the south according to Google. Papakea Resort is 50 minutes over on what is called the Kanapali Coast. Kihei Villages is 20 minutes to the south," Jenny said after reading the printouts.

"Let's go south, then. If we don't like either of them we can go west," Ryan offered and was soon driving.

Kihei Village was first and they did indeed have a unit available immediately. It was on the second floor, corner unit, and recently remodeled.

"Nice colors!" Jenny already liked it. It had fake hard wood floors. It had stainless steel appliances with a big French door refrigerator with water and ice in the door. Dark wood cabinets. Ceiling fans and a small balcony or lanai, as they called it. A tiny dining room in the corner. Jenny sucked in a breath after opening a door. "Full size stacked washer and dryer!" She was in love. The two bathrooms were literally side by side and had an interconnecting door. "Weird!" There were ceiling fans everywhere and since it was a corner unit it had windows on two sides.

"No air conditioning?" Jenny wasn't sure about that. Then she was reminded that the temperature in the area never got below 70 and never above 90 all year long. At $389,500 it was actually under their budget.

They needed to see the other one first before taking this one.

"Keonekai Villages." Ryan parked and they went inside. They had a unit that was available for rent immediately. This one was also on the second floor but was not a corner unit. It had small window style A/C units in the wall. Light colored fake wood floors. It was all white. The kitchen appliances were not nearly as nice. The kitchen cabinets were old and even the ceiling fans looked old.

"I don't like it," Jenny informed both her fiancé and the lady trying to rent it.

"Next?" Ryan asked since it meant a long drive to the Kaanapali Coast and Jenny nodded.

Papakea Resort. They had a unit available in one week. It was empty at the moment but it needed to be cleaned first. However at $434,500 it was above the limit they had set for themselves.

"Gray carpet." Jenny didn't like it already. The kitchen was tiny and all of the appliances were white. It had a large loft for possible future use. The only thing this place had going for it as far as Jenny was concerned was its location and the amenities the complex had.

"The first one?" It was the only one Kevin liked of the three.

"The first one," Jenny confirmed. So they drove back and arranged to take possession of it.

They needed to take money out of the bank and turn it into a cashiers check. Make arrangements for a loan. Have the place inspected and appraised to make sure they weren't paying too much. The entire process was likely to take a month. However, Kevin started his new job in a week so it meant they would be keeping the hotel room for a month and doing a lot of eating out.

Keeping the car for a month was going to be too expensive for them. Though getting a car now would hurt their credit score when it came to buying a place, but they had little choice. Now they needed a car to get around in.

They had already decided on that and it was used. If the place still had it, that is. It was a 2009 Volkswagen Beetle TI. It was a nice enough car and it did have a back seat of a sort. It was a convertible and turbo charged. It was red with a black top and black interior. It had a number of options already installed and it got good enough mileage.

At just over $9,000 it was affordable.


	24. Chapter 24

**Moving On**

_Chapter 24_

_It is now 3 months later_

Kate had been working on cold cases after being moved to the night shift. Granted the sun wasn't really down yet to start the night shift but it was close enough to call it the night shift.

She was now officially past her probation period and she had received glowing grades from everyone. Her white board had been implemented during the day shift as well. By putting what they had on the board meant what they had couldn't somehow accidentally end up in the trash or get picked up by the cleaning crew.

Right now she was basically all alone in her new bullpen when her desk phone rang. Olga and her friends never used her desk phone if they wanted her so that meant this was official. "Beckett." Kate listened for a moment. "Got it, 15 minutes," Kate told dispatch. She had her first real dead body. Though in this case it was two dead bodies at the same location.

She gathered up everything from her desk drawer and once again saw the card that had gotten her there. Just for a moment she picked it up and reread it. _I told you so._

Kate had her unmarked car. She chose a spot to park and headed for what was clearly the first body since there was already yellow police tape sectioning it off.

"Hi, Lanie. What have we got?" Kate walked up to her.

"Hey, Kate. Our first. No ID on the body. Female, I'm guessing somewhere between early 60s to maybe early 70s at most. Based on injuries she took a dive." Lanie pointed up and Kate followed her finger.

It was a high rise condo so that meant a lot of rooms to check. "Who found her and who was first on the scene?" Kate called out and watched a uniform officer come up to her.

"I did, ma'am. I was responding to a domestic disturbance call that was on the 26th floor. When I got here she was already down here. However, we do have a number of witnesses to what happened." Kate watches him point across the street.

He turned to look at the Red Lobster that was across the street. "We have six witnesses that said they watched a scuffle taking place out on the lanai. Apparently they were both doing a lot of yelling."

Kate immediately thought it had to be really loud to come from the 26th floor and get people's attention who were trying to eat. "Make sure you get their names, addresses, and numbers."

"Right here, ma'am." He handed her a tiny piece of paper from his little notebook.

"Nice work, Officer…Xiang." She looked at his name and memorized it for later.

"Dispatch said we had two," Kate reminded him.

"This way, ma'am." The same officer led her to the back of the building where there was another body on the pavement.

"Lanie?" Kate knew she had just seen him but wanted what little she knew.

"Male… Looks like his neck is broken." Lanie looked up as did Kate.

"Officer Xiang, get the other officers here to start taking pictures of everyone in the crowd. If we have a double homicide our guy may have only just left the building. Then see if this condo has security cameras. I'm going to want to see them," Kate told him.

"Yes, ma'am." He quickly walked away to issue orders.

"Tell me what you can, when you can, Lanie." Kate left her to her work and went to the restaurant. She had patrons to interrogate to see what they think they saw.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate was sitting in the security room watching tapes. Real tapes! Based on her witnesses she knew which room and watched a man that looked like the dead man out back run out of the room and started checking for unlocked doors until he gave up and began kicking one in.

"Officer Xiang, take some tape and close off both of these rooms. Wear gloves, I don't want you contaminating my crime scene." Kate watched him walk away. She was beginning to like this kid.

Kate went back to watching him go into the room and that's where she lost him until she saw him again. Only this time it was from a camera in the loading dock area. His body showed up for a split second before hitting the concrete.

It looked like she was going up to the 26th floor next. "I want copies of these two tapes or the tapes themselves if you don't have copying capability," she told the condo staff and went to the bank of elevators to go up.

Then her cell phone rang. She looked at it first and her mood went from looking for a killer to being happy. "Javi! How are things going?"

"You're not going to believe this, Beckett. Gates was sent back to Internal Affairs. She was effectively demoted," Javi said.

"Really!?" Kate stopped at the elevators but didn't call for one.

"Our new captain arrived today. His name is William LaMontagne, Jr. He's from New Orleans and man, does he have an accent."

"What's he like?" It was only one day but Espo should know by now.

"He's tall, really skinny. So far he hasn't ruffled anyone's feathers. We're supposed to call him Will. Not sir and not captain." Espo thought that was a major change.

"Sounds like a nice enough guy. Makes me wonder if all those interviews we all did had something to do with all this," Kate said.

"That's what I was thinking. Oh, there's one more thing. He told us that we would be getting a non-paid consultant. Give you one guess who's sitting at your old desk." Espo was all smiles.

"NO! Not Castle!" Kate couldn't believe it or maybe she could the more she thought about it.

"Want to talk to him?" Espo offered as he smiled wide and looked at Castle who was just sitting there since Kate's replacement was in the breakroom getting coffee.

"No, thanks. I have two dead bodies." Kate needed to get back to her job.

"Sorry, I'll let you go. Just thought you should know." Espo hadn't thought about that.

"It's fine. Call Kevin and tell him, too. Gotta go, Javi, and thanks." Kate ended the call and stabbed the button to call an elevator. She needed to get her head back in the game.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate was at her white board and was putting up all that she knew so far along with a couple of pictures of her vics. She needed what Lanie could find and she needed what a search of both rooms by CSU could tell her.

Then she moved to her computer to try and look both of them up.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate was still at it when the sun came up. It was time to go home and eat breakfast before spending some time with Olga. Then she could go to bed behind a set of blackout curtains they had replaced the other ones with.

"Hi, babe." Kate headed straight for Olga who was in the kitchen cooking her something for breakfast so she could kiss her soundly. "I finally caught a case. Not that that's such a good thing."

"So I heard." Olga pointed at Lanie's bedroom. Kate was working nights but Lanie worked days so no sooner than her dead bodies had shown up at her office and she decided that there was nothing that couldn't wait until tomorrow so she went home.

"Oh, yeah." Kate had forgotten about that.

"You must really be tired." Especially if she forgot Lanie was home already and had been for hours. "Breakfast. Then you can get naked on our bed and I'll work on those overworked muscles of yours," Olga offered and listened to Kate hum thinking of just what her hands could do to her body.

"You're home." Lanie showed up looking bright, clean, and awake. "I'll get right on your two dead bodies as soon as I get into work."

"Another breakfast coming right up," Olga announced.

"Oh, Javi called me…last night." Kate had to think about that. She really had to get off the night shift before she lost her mind. "He said Gates had been sent back to Internal Affairs."

"Really!" Olga stopped what she was doing to look at Kate.

"Seriously?" Lanie stared at Kate.

"Javi called it a demotion. We're both betting it had something to do with all those meetings at 1PP we all did," Kate said.

"About time. Honestly. What they saw in her escapes me. She did her best to destroy that precinct." Olga went back to cooking.

"The new captain is from New Orleans and Javi says he has a strong accent. What's more he wants everyone to call him by his first name. Will for William."

"Now that sounds like a nice change." Olga liked the sound of it.

"It also means Javi will be staying," Lanie commented.

"He let Castle come back, too," Kate added.

"You're kidding!" Lanie was shocked. "I'd say we left too soon but I for one like it here better."

"Me, too," Olga said with a smile.

"Me, three," Kate piped up.

"Today is our last chance to make any changes for the interior," Olga advised Kate.

"I'm good. I can't think of anything I want to change." Kate had seen everything.

"Including the all white kitchen?" Olga asked her yet again.

"All white reminds me too much of a hospital but the kitchen is downstairs and doesn't get any sunlight so it needs to be bright." Kate couldn't think of anything else but white.

"Have you tried glass with lights behind it?" Lanie suggested and as both Olga and Kate looked at each other.

"It would add color to the space and more light," Olga said, considering it.

"Maybe just the countertops if that's possible." Kate didn't want to use the countertop as a cutting board when in a hurry and end up ruining it.

"One way to find out." Olga put Lanie's omelet in front of her then went in search of her phone to call the boat manufacturer.

Lanie was gone by the time Olga came back. "He suggests glass with lights for the backsplash but not for a countertop. He doesn't like the durability issue for using it as a countertop." Olga was actually still on the phone with them.

"Better than nothing. Light green, maybe?" Kate liked that color and watched Olga talk on the phone then hung up.

"Light green with lights behind them, it is. If you're done eating you should be naked and on our bed," Olga informed her and watched a smiling Kate strip on her way to their bedroom.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate got what Lanie had found on the dead bodies and the surveillance tapes suggested something. Now all she had to do was prove it. That meant chasing down how that one apartment meant something to each of them.

But what she found had her going back to the condo building to look at still more tapes. What she saw there confirmed something for her.

"Captain?" Kate was at her doorway.

"What have you got, Kate?" she asked and waited for Kate to enter her office.

"I've worked out our two victims. Meet Lisa Debarks. She was 68 years old and was looking to buy a condo in the building. Based on bad paperwork and a misunderstanding she believed that she'd been approved for that unit and had actually been given a key.

"However when she got there she found someone living in it. Joseph Crack. He actually had no right to be there," Kate began.

"Squatter." The captain was having no trouble keeping up.

"Yes, we even found that everything in that unit was all his and not hers. Based on witnesses there was an argument that spilled out onto the lanai where people from the Red Lobster could hear and see everything. He sent her over the side to her death then even watched her fall. Based on witnesses he saw them all pointing up at him. At which point he panicked and needed out fast.

"Thanks to the fast response from Officer Xiang he couldn't escape by going down the elevator. Surveillance tapes show him kicking in a door across the hall. Below that unit, 26 floors down, is an open large trash bin being used to put debris into from an ongoing renovation. He landed near it but not into it like he probably planned," Kate explained.

"He killed her in a fight over an empty condo unit then ran but couldn't. So he jumped and missed." She shook her head.

"He would have died even if he had landed in the bin. It was full of discarded metal studs and a lot of drywall though there was some carpet. He would have just as likely impaled himself on one of those metal studs instead of hitting concrete," Kate said.

The captain shook her head.

"Essentially murder suicide mostly because Officer Xiang responded so fast. He's a good kid." Kate had learned to like him.

"I'll keep that in mind at his next review. Nice, fast work, Kate. Put the paperwork on my desk. …How is Honolulu treating you?" She was hoping that Kate liked it here.

"Pretty good so far. It's cleaner, fresher, warmer, sunnier, and just better than New York. I'm happy to be here." Kate told her.

"Good. I'm still expecting that wedding invitation," she said to Kate.

"Those are going out in about two weeks. We only just got confirmation that our venue is still available. It's still almost two months out so everyone has time to make airline reservations that need to. There are actually going to be two weddings in one. A friend and his fiancée over on Maui is coming over to do their wedding at the same time. It reduces the costs this way."

"Two weddings in one. Twice the number of tears. I look forward to it." The captain was looking forward to it even more now.

"I'll get started on that paperwork." Kate left her so she could finish this case.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate had two days off and it was time to find her dad an apartment to live in. She had Olga's car and watched as her dad sat in the passenger seat.

"Nice car." She wasn't sure if he meant it or was being sarcastic. However, it certainly was interesting.

"It's Olga's. It only looks like a TR6 on the outside. Everything else has been replaced and modernized. So what's first on your list?" Kate needed an address.

Kate drove off and everything looked really familiar. The ocean was on their left side. "This is the way to Lanie's work." They actually came up just short of China Town.

"Harbor Square." They met real estate agent Curtis Johnson down in the lobby who took them up to the 25th floor and unit #7.

"Two bedrooms, two full baths, 1,014 sq. Ft. Listed for $680,000." He got the door open and let Jim go first.

The combination living room and dining room had two walls of floor to ceiling windows with cheap vertical blinds. Speaking of windows they had track lighting above each of them. The kitchen was galley style and tiny. The lanai was equally tiny and looked out onto the city and not the ocean. It took a lot of work to see a tiny sliver of ocean. All the other rooms were nothing special.

"Next, Dad." Kate wasn't impressed.

It took them only a couple of minutes to reach the next place. "China Town is just right over there. Lanie's office is just the other side." She couldn't believe that except for Ryan and Jenny they were all in such a tight circle in Honolulu.

They met Leanne in the lobby and she took them up to the 40th floor. "I'm going to get a nose bleed," Jim joked as he watched her press the button for the 40th floor.

"Unit #7, two bedrooms, two full baths, 1,022 sq. Ft. Listed at $900,000." She opened the door and let Jim go first.

"A million dollars, Dad?" She wasn't sure he had that much.

"I got a lot for the one in New York." Jim was pretty sure he could afford it so long as he didn't lose his job.

"Real hardwood floors," Kate noticed. "More floor to ceiling windows with no blinds at all." Kate moved to the kitchen. "Sub-Zero, Dad!" Kate pointed to the manufacturer of the refrigerator. It was a massive side by side. "Nice size, light colored cabinets but tile floors." She would have preferred that the living room hardwoods made it into the kitchen.

Leanne was right behind them. "The windows have motorized solar shades. Just press a button." She did just that and suddenly these shades started coming down from the ceiling.

"Okay, now that's cool. A lot better than those cheap vertical blinds." Kate liked them.

"Dining room, just enough for four." Jim noted and kept walking.

"Master bedroom with more floor to ceiling windows." Kate was detecting a theme here. She watched as Leanne demonstrated the same solar shades.

"Closet, bathroom, second bedroom, and second bathroom." Kate was moving fast since there was nothing special here. "Hey, Dad I think I found an office for you."

"Yeah." Jim liked it.

Back in the living room they went out onto the lanai. "Lots of water this time." Kate liked the view.

"Forty floors up there better be water," Jim snorted which made Kate giggle.

Back downstairs they found an exercise room, common room and pool.

"The HOA fee is $888 monthly. It includes the amenities, exterior insurance, water, and A/C." Leanne told them.

"Ouch." Kate wasn't a fan of HOAs but at least this one paid for something. "Is it worth a million dollars?" That was the question her dad needed to answer.

"I can't afford more and the other places in Honolulu were either more or a lot less and you got a lot less," Jim responded.

"It is a corner unit so you don't just see one direction only. China Town is walking distance. Aloha tower and shopping is back the way we came. How far away is work from here?" It was perfect so long as her dad could get to work via the bus like Lanie did. He didn't have a car.

"Let's find out." Jim told Leanne he would let her know later today.

"Just need an address." Kate started the car and waited for the GPS unit to cycle and start up.

"My God, Dad, it's just up the street. Five minutes tops. We could walk it." Kate drove it instead and saw she had to turn left twice to reach it. "It's right there. But then you know that." He had been working there for almost a month now. It was time to get out of the hotel.

"Might take a month to get in. Inspection, appraisal, and mortgage paperwork," Kate thought. "It's close and nice, if not a little expensive. Maybe even a little bigger than your place back in New York," Kate noted then reconsidered. "Barely. The kitchen is certainly nicer as is the view and I like those blinds." She needed to talk with Olga about their windows if it wasn't already too late.

"I'll call her when I get back to the hotel." It was the best so far even if it did stretch him a bit. "40th floor. You sure it didn't come with oxygen tanks?" Jim joked.

"Dad!" Kate rolled her eyes at his little joke.

"Oh, I found out that Gates was sent back to Internal Affairs. The 12th has already gotten a new captain," Kate said.

"Really? She must have been really bad at her job." Based on what Katie had said he was betting she was the wicked witch of the west.

"And he's letting Castle consult again." Kate was still betting the mayor, or Alexis, or both had something to do with that.

"Your mother would be happy. Maybe he'll start writing books again," Jim said. It had been three years, after all.


	25. Chapter 25

**Moving On**

_Chapter 25_

_Epilogue_

Haiku Gardens

1\. Romantic Chapel or Garden Ceremony Site

2\. Officiant

3\. Duo Ceremony Musicians

4\. Premium Style Hand Tied Bridal Bouquet + Maid of Honor Bouquet

5\. Groom's Boutonniere or Maile Lei + Best Man's Boutonniere or Kukui Mock Orange Lei

6\. Aisle Chair Flowers + 2 Large Floral Arrangements + Mixed Rose Petals

7\. 4 Leis to Honor the Parents

8\. 30 Ceremony Chair Sashes + Sweetheart Table Linen

9\. Bridal Hair and Make-up + In Studio Trial Session + Hair and Make-up for 2 Others

10\. 6 hours of Duo Professional Photographers

11\. Pre / Post Wedding 1 Hour Photo Shoot

12\. Ceremony Videography

13\. Round Trip Limousine Transportation

14\. Professional DJ & Emcee Services

15\. Wedding Planner + Day of Event Coordination

16\. Bridal Room + Electric Garden Shuttle

17\. Wedding Rehearsal in the Gardens

"Does it say what it's costing them?" Jenny was more than curious. All Olga and Kate were asking for was $2,000 to add them to their wedding ceremony and location. Interisland flights were actually rather inexpensive so getting from Maui to Honolulu wasn't all that much.

"No, but this can't be that cheap." Ryan opened the brochure that Kate had sent along with this as well as when so he could get a couple of days off to get married.

Jenny took the brochure from him and looked it over. She had to admit that it was nice. It was going to be outside but it was in a covered patio area that looked amazing. Just in case there was a sudden shower which they had learned Hawaii and even Maui was prone to have. When it rained here it rained. Though it didn't always rain that long.

"This has to cost thousands." It was the one part Jenny was having the most trouble with.

"It's only two grand for us and we get this." He tapped the brochure. "So what do I tell Kate? We say no and she's going to be hurt," Kevin pointed out.

"I know, Kev. It's just…" It did look lovely and they were getting a lot for their two grand.

"We fly in, get ready, get married, have food, and fly back really late in the day. We might even be asleep by then," Kevin said. That way they didn't have to get a hotel room in Honolulu somewhere that they couldn't afford. They had spent enough already.

"Tell her yes and thank her for me." Kate and Olga were doing them a big favor and they were going to owe them for this.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"When are your parents arriving again?" Kate asked yet again.

"Same as the rest of us. Just after lunch. I got them rooms in The Royal Hawaiian. Hopefully they'll like it. They're here five days. With any luck I can talk them into going to one or two of the other islands for a day trip," Olga told her as they looked it all over while sitting in the dining room with everything spread out on the table.

"I have three days off so I can go with you," Kate reminded her. "And show them an apartment where they could move to." Kate's smile was wide.

"My evil thought exactly. Now we just need a place they can't resist at a price they can't resist. Though just which island do we place all our cards on?" Olga really didn't know.

"Honolulu's out. Too expensive. So that leaves one of the other three islands. Not sure we can talk them into getting a place next to an active volcano." Kate was thinking that left off the Big Island.

"So Kauai or Maui? Condo, townhouse, or single family home with a yard? Ocean view, or mountain view, or right on the beach?" Olga still didn't know.

"You use your laptop and take Kauai and I'll use mine and take Maui. Then we pick our best and compare," Kate suggested.

"Good plan." Olga opened her laptop and initiated a search as Kate did the same.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Thanks to their little car Kate had driven Olga to an Alamo Rent a Car so they could rent something bigger for all four of them while Olga's parents were here. They had parked it and were going inside their hotel to find them. Olga spotted them easily as they sat in pink chairs surrounded by pink almost everything.

"Mom, Dad!" She hadn't seen them in what felt like forever and was very happy to see them.

Kate watched as Olga kissed both cheeks of both of them. "Mom, Dad, this is Kate."

"Maxim and Lena Shishkov." Olga was used to calling them Mom and Dad.

Lena looked Kate over and realized she was similar to her own daughter. Save that Kate had much longer hair that for the moment was very curly. She was incredibly lovely.

"A true pleasure." This woman had her daughter's heart and certainly knew everything by now if not long before now. She took Kate in her arms and kissed both of her cheeks. Really kissed them and not just one of those fake kisses. "Olga beams when she talks about you."

Maxim was next though his kisses were fake kisses.

"How is your room?" Olga had selected it based on their preferences.

"It's lovely." Lena loved it.

"It's pink." Maxim not so much.

"We have plans for today. We'd like to show you some of Hawaii before the wedding which is in four days," Olga said.

"We would be happy to see what you call home and you must show us this boat you are getting," Lena enthused.

"Oops, we left pictures at home. But you can see that later, too," Kate offered. "I hope you brought all light clothing and swim suits. It never really gets hot here but it also never gets cold. Oh, and sunscreen, lots and lots of sunscreen."

"We were warned," Maxim assured her. He was in shorts and a partially open shirt for today. Lena was in what could be called a sundress.

They walked to the car. "Has it snowed yet?" Olga hadn't looked it up.

"Yes, just as we were taking off. Right into a snow storm. We missed it." Lena liked the first snow fall of the season.

Her parents saw that it was a white four door hard top Jeep Wrangler. They knew her car was this tiny two seater so both of them knew that this was a rental.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

They were driven next to Waikiki Beach on the way to Diamond Head. Then they spent several hours at the Pear Harbor Memorial. On the way back to their hotel they stopped for a moment at Kate's work to show them the Police Department.

"Homicide detective," Maxim commented. "Sounds dangerous, have you been shot?" He ignored the look his wife gave him for that question.

"Once, it was nothing serious and neither was the time I was stabbed. Not everyone wants to go to prison for killing someone. However, I feel a sense of fulfillment telling loved ones that the person that killed him or her has been caught. It's the best I can do to help them," Kate explained.

They dropped them off at the hotel to shower if they wanted and change clothes for going out to dinner. That allowed Olga and Kate to go home and do the same.

Kate had the day off but Lanie didn't so it was just them.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Today was going to be a trip to Maui just for Olga's parents. They had arranged for Ryan to meet her parents at the airport then drive them to the pick-up point. They were going on a 9-hour tour that was going to be _Drive the Hana Highway._

Kate had given them a picture of Ryan using her phone to text it to their phone. They had the ticket for the tour, a warning to wear mostly just their swimsuits, to take a towel, and to wear sunscreen. Ryan would pick them up and take them back to the airport where they would collect them and take them back to the hotel.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Your friend Kevin Ryan, is also a homicide detective." Maxim was a little surprised at this.

"Yes, we worked together at the 12th precinct in New York City. He and his fiancée chose to follow me here. I found him a job to apply for but he got the job under his own merit," Kate informed them as they drove from the airport to their hotel.

"They will be the other couple at your wedding." Lena had been happy to meet them before the wedding.

"Yes, some of their friends and family will also be attending." Kate was happy for them both.

"We're going to the big island tomorrow. Even Kate and I haven't been to that island yet," Olga said, looking forward to the trip.

"The one with the active volcano," Maxim noted.

"That's the one though the volcano is at the very far end and we won't be anywhere near it unless you want to attend a tour to see it." Olga hadn't dared presume.

"Yes, very much." Maxim had a wide smile and was obviously looking forward to it.

"Max!" Lena wasn't interested in being burnt to ashes by an active volcano.

"It's an active volcano. It's a tour so it has to be safe or they wouldn't have them. When are you going to get a chance to see an active volcano?" Max was going and his wife could stay behind somewhere.

"After I'm dead, of course," Lena countered. "But I'll go," she sighed. She was sure she wasn't going to enjoy it but she would do it for her husband.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Your dad is far more brave than your mom," Kate commented.

"Yeah, Dad's quite willing to do things than Mom has ever been. Dad would likely have lost an arm or something by now if it wasn't for Mom. She manages to talk him out of a lot of things," Olga admitted.

"That explains him asking if I had ever been shot." Kate figured that out easily enough.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

The flight to the Big Island took longer than the flight to Maui though they had lots of flights every day to choose from.

Despite herself Lena had had a good time during their three hour tour of an active volcano where they actually got to see and even feel the heat of the flowing lava.

"Where are we going now?" Lena was hoping into town to find a restaurant since she was starving.

"We're going to look at something," Kate said as Olga drove using the GPS that told her where to go.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"What is this?" Lena was getting seriously suspicious and didn't like it.

"It's for sale, Mom." She saw the look her mother was giving her. "Just look at it, please. And yes, you can afford it." Even if she had to help a little.

"Fine." She would humor her daughter and her fiancée.

It was solid white and three stories high with a two car garage under it.

"It comes furnished, Mom, so everything you see will stay," Olga mentioned as they met the real estate agent that was there to let them in.

"Three bedroom, three full baths, two car garage, 2,544 square feet on 2.42 acres. There's also a 3,000 kw solar panel for power. This house like the others is not on any city power or sewage. There are several mango, banana, and starfruit trees on the property and more than enough room for a garden," she told them all.

The furniture was okay, Lena did like all the glass and the view all that glass gave them. The house was big and she didn't mind all the white outside. There was a whole lot of grass for her husband to cut.

"This kitchen is disgusting!" Lena announced and Olga let her head drop to her chest. This house was dead. Her mother had just killed it.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

They thanked the real estate agent for coming out to let them see it.

"Olga, seriously?" Lena was not happy with her. "First, it was not French anything inside or out. Your father and I may have been born in Russia but we're French just like you are. Second, where is the snow?" Lena didn't want to be angry at her daughter. "I know you and Kate mean well and you two like Hawaii, but this is not France or Montreal. Your father and I are not moving. I like Hawaii so far, but for a visit, not to live here." She knew her daughter was different and she was happy for her, but she wasn't moving here.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Olga's parents were back in their hotel and Kate and Olga were home as was Lanie. "Well that was a bust. Your parents really are stubborn," Kate commented.

Lanie had listened to everything that had happened so far. "You can't make them like some place. Maybe if you find them a French boat to live on they might move. I'm just not sure how you're going to get it to snow, though."

"I knew they both liked Montreal a lot, but I just don't see its allure. It gets really cold there. I'm talking really cold and it doesn't just last a month or so. It isn't just snow, either, there's ice." Olga sighed. New York was almost as cold but it had benefits that Montreal didn't. Hawaii, now that she was retired, was so much better.

"Face it, babe, it's France or Montreal or nothing. Unless it looks French and snows," Kate said and watched as she nodded.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Today was Kate's last day off and so long as Lanie didn't get a case that needed her so was she. It was a good thing too since this was wedding day.

Everyone that could was now here. Most everyone had flown in today and would be gone again tomorrow.

Kate, Olga, Jenny, and Ryan each had their own area to get ready in. Each had someone to help them. Hair, makeup, and even getting dressed. In the end they looked the best they were ever going to look.

Ryan was standing there alone next to Espo who had flown out for the day to be his best man.

"You're getting married, bro." Espo was glad to be here. He had until late tomorrow to see what he could of Honolulu. He'd even brought a swimsuit to hit a beach in. Any beach so long as it was the Waikiki Beach since this was likely his last chance at it.

Ryan and Espo looked down and it was a sight to behold.

It was an open space and while yes, it was threatening to rain, it hadn't yet. It was open on all four sides. The roof had huge exposed wood beams and what looked like bamboo roof.

The floor was made from recycled rubber. The chairs were metallic gold in color. There was a white walkway between the chairs leading to where the ceremony would take place. The chairs were filled with orange ribbons and flowers while the walkway had orange petals littering both sides.

Jenny was first in her dress. It was a white satin, v-neck, A-line dress with a lace overlay. It has a wide satin belt and cap sleeves of the same lace. The neckline was trimmed with a beautiful scalloped lace. She'd fallen in love with it the moment she saw it. She was being escorted by her father. His wife and her mother was right up front.

Next came Olga in her dress. She was perfection in her gown. It was a satin crepe sheath with cowl neckline, crystal straps, and plunging back embellished with an exquisite mirror crystal applique that curved around just to the sides of the gown which had a five foot train. She was being escorted by her father. His wife and her mother was sitting next to Jenny's mother.

Finally Kate came down the aisle in her dress. She was wearing her mother's dress. It was sleeveless, white with embroidered lace around the edges of the arms, the neckline, and just above the top of the bodice which was tulle. From just below her bosom to several inches below her waist was satin covered in the same lace. The skirt was tulle that flowed out from the bodice with a slight train. She felt like an absolute angel. She was being escorted by her father who had tears in his eyes. His wife and her mother wasn't there for her. However, Richard Castle, Martha Rodgers, and Alexis Castle were next to the other two right up front.

It might look different to have a woman in white wedding dress marrying another woman wearing a white wedding dress but no one said a thing.

It was all simple enough and each repeated the words they were told one at a time. Then rings were exchanged until finally it was announced that they were married. He had skipped saying husband and wife since it didn't fit everyone. Though there was still some kissing. Then rice got thrown as they each walked back the way they had come.

Rick was smiling and Alexis and Martha were wiping away tears like the mothers next to them. The rest clapped.

Next came food, really good Hawaiian food including pig and poi and pineapple. Followed by dancing and two different wedding cakes.

"Hi, Castle, …Alexis." She had never met the older women with red hair next to them.

"It was beautiful, Kate." Rick had loved it.

"All three of you were amazing!" Alexis could only hope she looked that beautiful when it was her turn. Though now she was thinking it didn't have to be a guy though she still thought it would be.

"It was all lovely. I still have tears," Martha gushed.

"My mother, Martha." Rick introduced her.

"A pleasure." Kate was happy to see her.

"Honeymoon plans?" Rick asked her.

"We live in Hawaii, Castle." Kate reminded him. "But no, not at this time. Maybe when our boat shows up in two months we'll plan something."

"Boat?" Alexis hadn't been told about this.

"An 80 foot powered Catamaran. We are going to be living on it. We had it built to our specifications," Kate explained.

That had Rick looking for Olga who was with her parents and what looked like other friends. He knew Kate didn't have the money so that meant Olga did. He wondered how she made that kind of money.

"How's the book coming, Castle?" She was looking forward to it.

"All done. It's being printed as we speak. It'll be out by Thanksgiving. You have no need to purchase one." Rick gave her a clue as to one of their wedding gifts.

Several of the guests had already sent in gifts and everyone had opened those though both still had unwrapped gifts to open. In fact most of the gifts were unopened so far.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Detective Beckett." She shook her head. "Kate." Neither of them were at work so first names could be used.

"Susan." Kate was happy she could come. "My wife, Olga, this is Susan, she's the Chief of Police." Kate introduced her to Olga who was now standing next to her. "My boss," Kate whispered to Olga softly.

"A pleasure." Olga offered her hand and shook Susan's.

"I thoroughly loved the ceremony. Pretty sure I had tears," Susan confessed.

"I didn't notice; I'm not sure I saw anyone at the ceremony." Kate laughed at herself. Her own tears tended to block out everything.

Susan gets serious and put on her serious face. "One of the staff here found something. Before I launch a full blown investigation I thought I should show it to you first." It involved one of her detectives so she took anything that might affect anyone in the department very seriously.

"They found this." She handed a small card to Kate who looked at it. The color drained from her face and she almost fainted straight away.

"It means something to you?" Susan saw Olga snatch her and was holding her up.

"We'll take care of it. Thank you," Olga told her and Susan, now curious, however she walked away.

Lanie, though, had seen Kate almost collapse and was hurrying over as fast as she could. She was concerned for her friend but she was also the only doctor in the building.

Lanie could see Kate crying and shaking. Kate was holding a card in her hands so she looked. What she saw shouldn't shock her, but why was it affecting Kate now?

"They found this on one of the seats at the wedding," Olga told her knowing that Lanie knew everything. So Lanie looked at the card that Kate had a strangle hold on.

**_I told you so_**

This card looked different. It had a heart in the middle and the words were written over it.

Kate had let her heart talk to her a whole lot of late. The same heart that had gotten her to this point in time in the first place. Kate croaked the word out, "Mom!"

"I'll get some water," Lanie offered and walked away. She hadn't gotten far when she heard Olga.

"Better make it something a lot stronger," Olga suggested instead.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

Kate, Olga, and Lanie were presently sitting next to the seat where the card had been found after leaving the party. "Mom was here." Kate was still shedding tears.

"Where else should she be, love?" Olga questioned gently.

Kate wiped away tears and looked around. She had walked down this aisle and while she hadn't walked right past this chair, she had gone past it to get married. Now she was looking around frantically. If she had been here maybe she was still here.

"Mom, please!?" Except instead of showing herself everything was silent save for Kate crying a little harder. Olga and Lanie had their arms around her.

"She was here, she was actually here." Kate reached out and through her tears she rubbed the seat of the chair the card had been found on. It was the closest she had been to her since before she had been killed. Her mind was still trying to wrap itself around understanding it, but her heart had no such problem.

"Mom!" Olga and Lanie could feel her quaking as she cried. Not that either of them had dry eyes. Each knew what this meant to Kate. "PLEASE!" Kate gave it one last try, but it stayed silent and empty save for her crying and her two best friends.

They had all ruined their makeup so they needed to use the room they had used to get ready for the ceremony.

By then Kate's head was almost back in charge. "You think she was really here?" It was just a stupid card after all.

"I've done a lot in my life. For every trip I've ever made, I prayed and meant it with every fiber of my heart. I may not be religious and go to church, but that doesn't stop me from believing," Olga replied. Olga had to be careful with just what she said with Lanie in attendance.

"Two cards, Kate, in two totally separate locations thousands of miles apart. You got them just when you need them most. What more is there?" Lanie asked. She finished first and stood behind Kate while she fixed her face. "She's your mother. Even my mother, as much as we don't get along, only wants what's best for her children. Yours has simply found a new way to help." Lanie rubbed her shoulders. "Right when you need it most."

"Better keep your eyes open for more cards," Olga added which finally got Kate to chuckle.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

It took Kate almost a month to finally get around to opening the gift that had Rick's name on it. She had opened the ones from Alexis and Martha but she had left the one with his name alone until now.

"Finally, I see," Olga teased her.

"Castle and I have a history. The first time we met he was a complete jackass and I had him arrested every chance I got. One was for sexual harassment," Kate replied defensively.

Finally Kate unwrapped it and saw it was a box. She opened it to find yet another box. Inside that box was still another box. "Really, Castle!" She finally reached the last box and found a book inside. _Heat Wave_

She opened the first page or two and saw a note written inside it.

_Kate,_

_Thank you for bringing my ability to write back to me._

_I will owe you until the day I die._

_This is the first book off the press that isn't even out yet. _

_Maybe we can still debrief each other in private._

_Richard Castle_

"Jackass." Kate now was sure he was never going to change.

"Sounds sweet to me." Olga was reading over her shoulder and watched as Kate read the inside tease about the plot.

"NIKKI HEAT! What kind of name is Nikki Heat?" Kate was going to kill him if she was ever in New York City again.

"Sounds like a stripper name to me. Guess I know what I'll be reading while you're at work." Olga wanted to read this book really bad now.

"And she's naked on the cover!" Kate dropped it on the table. She had his phone number and was almost ready to call him and give him a piece of her mind. But she didn't.

"Isn't he still following around someone in your old precinct?" Olga questioned her.

"So Javi told me last time we talked. He said Ryan's replacement is some pig named Sully or something. He said he had bits of lunch from weeks past scattered all over his desk," Kate confirmed.

"And the people that replaced you and Lanie?" Olga hadn't heard much.

"My replacement came with the captain from New Orleans. Gabriela or something like that. Espo says she's a beauty and has a really strong accent. As for Lanie's replacement it's a guy that came from the UK of all places. He says he has a pronounced accent too."

"So how do you feel about all that?" Olga inquired since she wanted to make sure Kate was okay with her choices.

"I'm fine with it all. Just glad Espo sounds happy. Gates was such a…" She didn't want to think ill of the woman. Maybe it was just who she was and she hated all cops from being in Internal Affairs for too long.

"The word you are searching for is BITCH," Olga informed her. "Maybe Castle can debrief _her_ in private." Olga smiled at her which had Kate laughing. Castle was Gabriela's problem now and not hers.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

"Ready you two?" Olga was more than ready. She could call for the pod to finally be delivered and she could at long last, go back to designing dresses and other things to keep herself busy.

Except Kate's phone announced she had a text message. She groaned. She was off work strictly by accident. They'd been notified that their boat was to be delivered today and placed in its mooring since a space had opened up just two days ago.

"It's from Espo, he says we should find the news channel on TV and do it now." Kate went over to the TV and surfed channels until she could find the right one.

"_For those of you just joining us, Senator William H. Bracken has been arrested by the FBI this morning. __A__ll of his homes and offices have been raided. We're also hearing that other buildings in the New York City area are also being raided by the FBI __in__ conjunction with the local police department. At this time the major charges appear to revolv__e__ around a massive illegal drug distribution system. Informed sources are telling us that the amount of money involved is in the billions._

_Once again, Senator William H. Bracken who represents the State of New York has been arrested by the FBI."_

Kate turned it off and looked at the others. Olga stated what Kate was probably already thinking. "That's one of the names on our list."

"Roy," Kate whispered.

"He used his get out of jail free card," Olga noted. At least now they had a name. It was also far out of Kate's hands.

"They didn't say anything about murder, though." Kate wanted him arrested for that.

"It's early still. Give them a chance, Kate," Olga said in a quiet voice.

Lanie moved over to Kate and rubbed her arm. She knew Kate's life used to revolve around finding out who killed her mother. "You okay?" Was she suddenly wanting to go back to New York and leave her life here behind?

"I'm fine." Kate then straightened up and with a steady voice said, "I'm fine. Let's go see this boat." Kate clutched the plaque she had in her arms tight to her chest and walked to the front door.

The marina was just a two minute walk away. However, it was another fifteen minutes of walking to reach the boat with the crew that had brought it here.

This was going to be the initial walk-through with the manufacturer. The manufacturer would tag anything they found that needed to be fixed no matter how small it was.

**[)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(] ****o**** [)(]**

It wasn't hard to spot. It was literally the largest boat here. It was also almost the farthest boat out.

Just like the picture it was a dark silver below, white above with light wood decks, and since it was powered there was no mast.

"How is the new place and new car?" Kate asked Lanie since she hadn't had either for long.

"My little place at Peninsula at Hawaii Kai is just fine," Lanie said as they walked through the Marina.

"A three bedroom and two full bath townhouse with a garage is not little," Kate replied though she was happy for her.

Lanie defended her choice of places to live. "I'm just trying to plan for the future."

Kate wasn't buying it. "Uh-huh, what's his name?"

"No one you know. …Yet. And my little 2004 Honda S2000 is nice," Lanie deflected since she wasn't ready yet. It was used and came with a number of miles on it already, but she could afford it after the house had ate up damn near everything.

"You'll tell me eventually. You can either do it sober or drunk," Kate warned her. "Though I do like your little car. It fits you. I even like the gold color of it and the top is automatic which is even better."

[] *(X)* [] *(X)* [] *(X)* []

Kate and Olga and even Lanie were given a roll of blue tape. Anything they found that they didn't like they put a piece of blue tape either next to the damage or on the item itself.

They did use up a little of the tape but not that much. They even got to look at the two engines since there was one in the aft of each pod.

Then they finally fired it up to make sure it still worked after being towed on a barge though it had sailed from the barge to this space.

The manufacturer would have everything fixed today.

There were two things left to do. Moving down the steps to the water allowed them to see the name of the boat.

_**OUR FUTURE**_

Kate cursed. "I forgot a picture hanger and a hammer." She had something that had to go up on a wall in the master bedroom.

"Hold that thought." Olga ran off only to return a few minutes later. "Compliments of the manufacturer and his men. …Though they do want their hammer back."

Kate smiled and headed for the bedroom. It even had sheets and a comforter that met their requirements.

Kate picked a wall and lined it up just where she wanted it and nailed in the picture hanger. Then she hung the framed item. She'd had both cards mounted then framed using a very expensive frame and double matting. Now hanging behind UV resistant glass were the two cards that she was now sure her mother had left her.

**_I told you so_**

[] *(X)* [] *(X)* [] *(X)* []

It was now three months later and Kate and Olga were all moved in. It had taken three weeks to get not just their pod moved but also Lanie's pod. Their pod was in the parking lot so it was a short walk from the pod across the drive and onto the boat.

Olga was finally happy and was working on her next dress. However, at the moment she was in her office area that wasn't nearly as big as it used to be. She was glad most of what she used to have in paperwork had been shredded.

She had a message that was encrypted. "I'm retired, guys." She had found more than one job offer that she hadn't seen for months and hadn't reacted to since she didn't have the capability to respond properly. Her little laptop wasn't secure enough.

Olga had seen what the job was. "You're shitting me!" She pulled out her cell phone and called Kate.

"Hi, babe, what's up?" They had their boat, they had christened the bed. Though they had yet to take it out onto the water.

"You're not going to believe this. …Are you sitting down? You need to be sitting down, Kate," Olga insisted.

"I am now." Kate had plopped into her chair at her desk.

"The United States of America has a job offer for me. $1,855,000," Olga told her. It was the largest offer she had ever had.

"Jeez! What do they want you to do and have you told them you're retired?" Kate didn't want her taking jobs. Between what she had and what Olga had left they had over one million dollars to live with. Her salary was what they were using to live off of at the moment and it was enough to pay the bills and have a little fun with. At least until Olga finished her dress and started on the next one.

"They want William H. Bracken to be silenced," Olga said. The silence was deafening.

The United States of America wanted William H. Bracken killed before he did any more damage to the country.

"I said no, of course," Olga assured her. Even if she did want him dead, it wasn't up to her or the United States of America. There was only one person who had the authority to tell her who to kill and she was never going to tell her to kill anyone. Let alone William H. Bracken. He was supposed to rot in prison until the day he died.

The only tiny fear she had was that the people she had worked with knew she had secrets and that perhaps one of these days they might decide she knew too much and might talk. But she couldn't stop them if they tried.

If it was her, she would swim using a rebreather so there were no bubbles. Place a mine under the boat that she would never know was there and blow her up along with the boat along with the ones to either side of them. If they wanted her dead, she was dead. Her only real prayer was that Kate wouldn't be around her if that time ever came.

Or maybe Kate's mother could give either of them a warning. A simple little card would do.

Still for now everyone was moving on from the time when Captain Victoria Gates was in anyway involved with their lives. Life was so much better for everyone now. Everyone!

_Ten Months Later_

Right after hanging up her cell phone it rang yet again. "Beckett." Kate listened for a moment and felt the blood drain from everything. "Thanks." She barely hung up the phone after that call.

She sat there in shocked disbelief. She hadn't been sure so she want to see a doctor who had taken a blood sample and said someone would call her with the results.

Those results were now in. However, it wasn't something to be told to Olga over the phone so she would have to wait. In fact Kate was going to buy two or more items on her way home just to make sure.

Olga had assured her it was damn near impossible and yet apparently it wasn't.

"Pregnant. …I'm pregnant." All those dates before Olga and that one scare that had proven to be nothing. Well, this was not nothing. They were going to have a baby! They were starting a family.

[] *(X)* [] *(X)* [] *(X)* []

_For those that question why Gates was so mean you really should go back and watch the first few episodes after Gates was introduced. She threatened to bury Kate the very first day Kate shows up to start her job. Her very first case she literally insults her to her face. Usually when she insults Castle she insults Kate as well._

I don't know of too many people that like their jobs when the boss insults you and demeans the job that you do. Plus even Ryan and Espo questioned what Kate had done now when Gates yells her name.

So did Kate overreact to what Gates was doing? I guess that's up to you to decide. Did she overreact to having Castle forced onto her as well? Again that is up to you to decide. Just think back to what Castle was and how he acted when they first met. He really was an ego driven Jackass at that time. Plus Kate was likely right, he was only following her around in an attempt at getting into her pants.


End file.
